What's Cooking Wednesday: Accademia Salad

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

As many of you know, the Eatwrite family just had a marvelous trip to Italy.

This trip was sort of an early graduation present for C, who will be graduating from high school in June of 2011, but we figured that next year, he'll probably be doing the college visit thing or we'll just plain be putting everything into saving for college.

So there it is.

We went to Florence in February, with a brief taste of Venice.

From a culinary standpoint, it was also Tuscan, with a brief taste of Venetian.

On somewhat the spur of the moment, we signed up for a Tuscany day trip, which included stops in Siena, an organic farm and winery (for a spectacular lunch), San Gimignano and Pisa. It was all spectacular, with the exception of Pisa, which is touristy beyond touristy.

C wasn't feeling his best that day, and while he greatly enjoyed the trip, when we got back to Florence, around 6:30 p.m., he was ready to crash. D and I, however, wanted dinner, and the tour guide on our Tuscan trip had suggested one of her favorite restaurants within just a 10 minute walk from our lovely B&B.

Perfect.

So, we set off for the Ristorante Accademia, on Piazza San Marco, and had just a spectacular dinner there. I have to warn folks, that we also had a far-less-than-spectacular dinner there later - it's a restaurant with a split personality - "foreigners" in the front, and Italians in the back, with commensurate service, quality, etc. The food, however, was universally good, and they had a great, local, by-the-glass wine selection both times.

The first dinner we were introduced to the salad below, which was one of our favorite eating experiences in Italy (which is really, really saying something). It's just a great combination of flavors, and while I haven't completely captured the quality of the Accademia salad, I think most of the basics are here, and those who've tried it Stateside have seemed to like it.

Happy What's Cooking Wednesday!

Accademia Salad



Dressing:

1 TBS good quality olive oil
1 tsp good quality honey (if you can get Tuscan honey, so much the better)
2 TBS Looza peach nectar, or the equivalent (I've also made this berry juice - even cider might work)

Salad:

2 large handfuls of watercress (I've been using arugula, since watercress isn't in season. I've also made this with winter spinach, and that worked well, too, but the bite in the arugula is a bit better)
1 large pear (preferably bosch), sliced into thin wedges
2 TBS toasted pine nuts
1 - 2 oz. EITHER pecorino Toscano (if you can find it - this is best, but also price) OR Basque sheep's milk cheese, Parrano or Pecorino Romano all make good substitutes - each has a different feel), shaved thin in strips
pepper to taste

1. Take a large bowl and put in the dressing ingredients and whisk HARD. The honey is just not going to want to emulsify, but persevere! Once you've gotten everything blended, let it sit while you fashion the salad.

2. Wash the greens and dry thoroughly and spread at the bottom of the salad bowl. Slice the pears on top of the bed of greens. Sprinkle the pine nuts on top of the pears. Shave the cheese on top. Sprinkle with freshly cracked pepper to taste, and drizzle the dressing over all.

3. Eat and enjoy!

Nutrition facts:

* Fat: 8.8g
* Carbohydrates: 12.8g
* Calories: 138.4
* Protein: 3.9g

As always, nutrition information supplied by the recipe calculator at sparkrecipes.com.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Southern Comfort Supper

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

We're having warmer weather at the moment, but last week things were still on the chilly side.

Con and I were also still adjusting to the new school year - papers to write, papers to grade, a new theater schedule, homework, homework, homework, lesson planning, etc.

It seemed like a good time to pull out another comfort food meal.

This summer, I wanted a recipe for corn pudding, and as I perused various sites, I found a highly rated recipe for "Corn Casserole" by Paula Deen. I'm not usually a fan of Deen's cooking, due to the copious amounts of butter, etc., but I decided to try this one and then figure out how to make it reasonable.

Deen's version was extremely rich. Too rich for me on every single level.

What I wanted was something that was doable nutritionally and that had a bit of spice to go with Deen's overly-sweet version. The changes below worked beautifully, and a delicious dinner was had by all. I also had some kale and tatsoi from my last farm share that I wanted to use, so I took 2 strips of Ernst Farm bacon, cut them into small pieces, and sauteed them, adding the greens (chopped) when the bacon rendered. The smoky taste of the bacon was a great complement to the greens, and we had a perfect side in about 7 minutes. This was definitely a supper of Southern-style comfort foods.

Jen's Corn Pudding




Ingredients

Corn kernels from 4 ears of corn, or 4 cups frozen kernels
1 package of Jiffy Mix corn muffin mix
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar
2 links Amy Lu chicken Andouille sausage, sliced in half lengthwise, and then chopped into pieces
1/2 tsp Frank's Redhot or other hot sauce (Clancy's might be good here)
oil or cooking spray for greasing casserole dish.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a casserole dish (I used an 8X12 dish that was just the right size - 13X9 makes things a bit thin and 9X9 is too thick, and the pudding won't set as easily).

2. In a large bowl, stir together the corn, the corn muffin mix, sour cream, buttermilk, melted butter, sausage pieces and hot sauce.

4. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch. Take out of the oven and top with the shredded cheddar cheese.

5. Bake for another 5 - 10 minutes until cheese is just melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.

Variations:

Sweet version - leave out the hot sauce and use Amy Lu's Apple Maple Sausage.

Vegetarian - leave out the sausage - it still tastes great. You could also put in some sauteed, chopped summer squash for added nutritional boost.

Note: The reason I'm promoting the Amy Lu sausages is only because their fat and calorie counts are much lower than other chicken sausages. That's only important in terms of the nutrition info here.

Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe: 6
Serving Size: 1 serving

Amount Per Serving:

Calories 364.9
Total Fat 18.9 g
Saturated Fat 10.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.2 g
Cholesterol 55.1 mg
Sodium 639.7 mg
Potassium 223.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 40.4 g
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g
Sugars 10.7 g
Protein 11.9 g

As always, nutrition information supplied by the recipe calculator at sparkrecipes.com.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Corn Potato Chowder with Sausage

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

As many of us are only too aware, yesterday was the first day of school in Michigan. And like many other moms, I wanted the dinner after the first day to be something I knew my son would enjoy, as well as something that would be healthy and filling.

Being a teacher, I know just how exhausting that first day can be, and comfort food at the end of it can be a blessing.

C is a carb boy, and when I saw this recipe in this month's Cooking Light, I knew it had his name on it.

The recipe, however, had some issues that don't work quite as well for my family. One, I knew C would like it much better if it had meat. The rest of the recipe seemed to be a great match for sausage, and C loves the chicken apple-gouda sausages by AmyLu. At only 110 calories and 5 grams of fat per link, it's a luxury I can afford (calorie-wise) as well, but I wanted to bring the calories down a bit to both add the sausages and suit my own needs.

I removed the red pepper (which C only likes raw), cut back a bit on the onions (again, for C's tastes), cut back a bit on the butter and switched to 1% milk (which didn't hurt the consistency in the least). I also changed the proportions of the corn in terms of plain kernels to pureed kernels, and I added a bit of shredded cheddar to C's portion, since he's a huge fan of shredded cheddar. I also dispensed with the grilling and earlier Cooking Light recipe steps because a. I'm sure the taste is wonderful, but it was kind of fussy, and b. I wanted to get dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time. The final product was rich and delicious, and we've all decided this one is a "keeper".

Serve it with a fresh salad and some bread, if you feel the need (D and C felt the need).

To make this vegetarian, just remove the sausage or use something like this - I don't think the recipe would suffer - the sausage just adds a nice, smokey flavor.

Corn Potato Chowder with Sausage

Ingredients

6 medium russet or 12 small (red or new or purple) potatoes (a variety of types works best here), cut into 2" - 3" inch chunks (roughly cut - size is just to get them to cook a bit more quickly)
1TBS butter
kernels from 4 large ears of corn
4 chicken sausages, halved and sliced (I used apple-gouda sausages by Amy Lu)
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 cup half and half
3 cups 1% milk
sprigs of thyme (optional) or 1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
chopped chives (optional)
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)


Directions
1. Cook the potatoes in salted, boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to cool them.
2. While potatoes are cooking, strip the kernels off the corn, process 2 cups of the kernels in a food processor until they are completely pureed. Chop onions and cut up the sausages.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. Saute the onions for a minute or so, and add the sausages. Cook another two minutes. Add the corn kernels. Add the 1/2 and 1/2, milk, corn puree, salt to taste and the thyme. Bring to a simmer.
4. While the soup is coming to a simmer, cut the potatoes into small pieces. Add them to the soup.
5. Simmer the soup for 20 minutes stirring from time to time so that it doesn't skim over. Remove the thyme sprigs when the chowder is finished.
6. Serve with lots of freshly ground pepper, and either the chopped chives, shredded cheddar, or both.

Serves 6 generously.

Nutrition Facts:

Amount Per Serving

Calories 370.0
Total Fat 14.3 g
Saturated Fat 7.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g
Monounsaturated Fat 3.0 g
Cholesterol 61.2 mg
Sodium 478.2 mg
Potassium 969.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 45.0 g
Dietary Fiber 5.2 g
Sugars 11.1 g
Protein 19.1 g

As always, nutrition information supplied by the recipe calculator at sparkrecipes.com.

Photos: Corn Potato Chowder with Sausage. All photos by Jennifer Shikes Haines.

If you don't mind leaving your comments/votes for this piece at my other gig, it would be greatly appreciated!

What's Cooking Wednesday: Mushroom-Onion Strudel with Two Paprikas

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

Whether we like it or not, fall is in the air.

From a culinary standpoint, that's not a bad thing; while we'll miss the blueberries and peaches, the temptations of apples and squash are just ahead. The first apples, in fact, have begun to appear at the Farmers Market over the past couple of weeks.

The last day of our staycation I made a blueberry-cream cheese strudel, and had a few phyllo sheets leftover. This was the last of our indulgences; it was time for a return to healthy foods.

Now, it may seem like Mushroom-Onion Strudel wouldn't be that healthy, but with a few shortcuts, it really can be.

What I want from this strudel is a rich, Hungarian mushroom soup quality, but without all the cream and calories. To make this healthier, I cooked the vegetables slowly in a bit of olive oil, used whole wheat phyllo dough (Fillo Factory brand makes organic, whole wheat phyllo dough), and used 3 TBS of reduced fat sour cream, rather than a mixture of full fat sour cream and cream. To get a complex, smokey flavor, I used two types of paprika and some Gruyere. Our family loved this start to the fall. Enjoy!


Mushroom-Onion Strudel with Two Paprikas




Ingredients

5 sheets of whole wheat phyllo dough, thawed (regular phyllo dough will work fine, too)
olive oil cooking spray or olive oil atomizer
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 lb. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1 large onion chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
3 TBS reduced fat sour cream
4 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated (if you have a grater with small holes, or a microplane, so much the better as you can spread the cheese more - a light coating on the phyllo is fine)
1 tsp olive oil

Note: If you have only smoked paprika, 3/4 tsp can be used. If you only have sweet paprika, use the 1/2 tsp and add a pinch of cayenne pepper. This will be tastier with the two paprikas, however.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Saute onions in 1 TBS olive oil over medium heat, until onions start to become translucent. Add mushrooms, and continue to cook until they are golden brown - cook slowly. The sauteing should take about 30 minutes. Add salt, pepper, paprika and sour cream. Mix together. Set aside.

3. Spread a clean kitchen towel on a table. Working quickly so the phyllo won't dry out, place a sheet of phyllo dough on the towel. Spray with cooking spray or atomizer. Repeat until all five sheets have been used.

4. Sprinkle Gruyere across surface of the phyllo sheets, reserving 1 TBS. Along one edge, place the mushroom/onion mixture.

5. Using the towel, roll the strudel, jelly-roll style. When the strudel is rolled, brush the remaining tsp of olive oil along the seam and sprinkle with the remaining gruyere.

6. Carefully transfer strudel to baking sheet that is either greased or has a silicone mat or parchment paper covering it. (I'd recommend the latter two choices, if possible).

7. Bake for 25 minutes until strudel is golden brown. Let cool for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 6

Amount per serving:

* Calories: 191.1
* Total Fat: 11.2 g
* Cholesterol: 24.7 mg
* Sodium: 147.6 mg
* Total Carbs: 14.5 g
* Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g
* Protein: 8.9 g

As always, nutrition information supplied by the recipe calculator at sparkrecipes.com.

Photos: Plate of Mushroom-Onion Strudel with Two Paprikas and heirloom tomatoes, close-up of Mushroom-Onions Strudel with Two Paprikas, phyllo dough and mushroom mixture ready to be rolled, rolled strudel ready for the oven. All photos by Jennifer Shikes Haines.

If you don't mind leaving your comments/votes for this piece at my other gig, it would be greatly appreciated!

What's Cooking Wednesday: Farmers Market Niçoise

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

I had the farm share of all farm shares last week, as our share partners were out of town, and it is most definitely peak season. Our Tantre box was filled to the brim with corn and lettuce, beets and eggplant, basil, parsley, summer squash, carrots, both green beans and purple beans, tomatoes, potatoes and an orange-fleshed honeydew that tasted deliciously sweet and had a hint of rosewater.

We cooked up the corn the first night, because you just have to eat corn as fresh as can be, and we used much of the other bounty quickly. By the weekend, however, we still had all of the wonderful makings of a Salade Niçoise, plus some corn kernels that had to be used up. With the addition of some hard-boiled eggs, a can of tuna packed in oil (which is what I really need for Niçoise), some olives from Plum Market's olive bar and a loaf of home made bread via Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, it was a delicious, and relatively easy, summer dinner. The ingredients that are starred are all veggies that you can find fresh and local at the Farmers Market (or other area markets) right now.

A2eatwrite's Farmers Market Niçoise

Ingredients

*4 small red-skinned potatoes, quartered, steamed or boiled to fork tender, and cooled
*4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered (better and fresher if you get them from a local farmer)
1 can of tuna packed in olive oil
*2 cups of rinsed, washed lettuce leaves
*2 cups of green beans, steamed briefly (1 minute or less) and chilled ahead of time (OR... 1 cup of green beans, steamed as above and 1 cup of purple beans, raw, so they retain their color)
*fresh corn kernels off of two small cobs (or one large one)
*2 tomatoes, cut into 1/8ths
1/2 cup of niçoise or other small, black olives

For the dressing:

*1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS red wine vinegar
1 1/2 TBS olive oil

Directions

1. Mash the garlic together with the salt (I find a mortar and pestle works best for this) - scrap mixture into a small bowl and whisk in vinegar. Finally, whisk in olive oil until emulsified. Set aside.
2. Place rinsed lettuce leaves on the bottom of a platter.
3. Place tomatoes and beans around the platter and make sure coverage is complete, ie. you will get beans and tomatoes with each serving.
4. Do the same with the cooled potatoes and egg quarters.
5. Scatter the corn, olives and tuna on top of the salad.
6. Drizzle dressing over the salad. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

Serves four.

Enjoy!



Nutrition Facts

4 Servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories 398.3
Total Fat 17.8 g
Saturated Fat 3.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 7.2 g
Cholesterol 219.7 mg
Sodium 609.7 mg
Potassium 1,217.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 37.3 g
Dietary Fiber 5.9 g
Sugars 2.2 g
Protein 24.8 g

As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

If you'd be so kind, please leave your comments and/or votes here.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Kohlrabi Slaw Redux

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

Well, you may remember that last week I wrote about a recipe gone wrong. One of those recipes that went increasingly wrong as I kept trying to fix it.

I put out a plea for help, and help you delivered! I not only received suggestions from Ann Arbor, but also from Alberta, Canada; New Orleans; Belgium; Boston and several other locales.

I am very grateful for all of the help. Many of the suggestions were similar, which makes sense given that I described what I was looking for. After sorting out the many ideas, and going to local blog, Gastronomical Three, suggested by AnnArbor.com reader Vivienne Armentrout, I decided to try the following variations:

This one was suggested by AnnArbor.com reader Peipei:

1 TBS canola oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 TBS honey
1 tsp fresh, grated ginger
2 TBS rice wine vinegar
1 TBS whole grain mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground fresh pepper

A sauce for hiyashi chuka, the cold Japanese noodle dish, was suggested by my blogging buddy, Thalia's Child, who lives somewhere in Western Canada. After doing a comparison of different variants of hiyashi chuka, I decided on the variant suggested by Thalia's Child, which consisted of this:

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
5 tablespoons chicken stock
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili oil (optional - but I used it)


I then pondered "add-ins". AnnArbor.com reader JG suggested cranberries, both for color and taste, and AnnArbor.com reader Mike Jennings suggested elimination of the sunflower seeds and adding black sesame seeds and toasted sesame seeds instead.

As a tasting panel, we invited over some friends, and we made a lovely Monday night dinner of it, supplementing the kohlrabi slaw taste-testing with grilled chicken sausages, a decadent Paula Deen corn casserole, and an Achatz raspberry pie. (Yeah, I was a bit lazy and opted for store bought dessert).

Before our friends arrived, I made two batches of the kohlrabi slaw with this recipe:

Per batch:
4 cups shredded kohlrabi
2 peeled, shredded carrots
4 shredded radishes

Then I divided the slaw into two bowls and mixed one bowl with Peipei's dressing and one with HALF the hiyashi chuka sauce. The amount of the hiyashi chuka sauce was basically twice the amount of Peipei's dressing, so you can either halve the recipe or save the rest of the sauce for another use (such as actually making hiyashi chuka). I let the batches of slaw marinate while I prepped everything else.

Right before dinner, I divided each batch of slaw into three bowls and topped each bowl with one of the following add-ins:

1. cranberries and toasted sunflower seeds
2. JUST toasted sunflower seeds
3. black sesame seeds and gomasio (dry roasted sesame seeds with sea salt):



We then passed all six bowls around sequentially and tasted each. For our very unscientific poll of four, the winning variant was unanimous:

Hiyashi chuka sauce with cranberries and toasted sesame seeds followed by the hiyashi chuka sauce with black sesame seeds and gomasio.

It needs to be stated, however, that we also really enjoyed those same two variants with Peipei's dressing. The solo sunflower seed variant, however, was just plain boring with either dressing.

Differences between the two dressings: both gave the semi-sweet, Asian feel that I was looking for with my original recipe. I would proudly serve either one at my table. Peipei's dressing was far sweeter than the hiyashi chuka sauce, so if you prefer sweeter tastes, in general, Peipei's dressing would be your choice. Since I used the optional 1/2 tsp hot chili oil in the hiyashi chuka sauce, this sauce gave a bit of heat, something that all four of us enjoyed. If you prefer something with a bit of spice, then the hiyashi chuka variant is for you. The cranberry/sunflower seed option was pretty darned sweet, the black sesame seed/gomasio option was much more savory, especially with the hiyashi chuka sauce.

So mix and match to your own tastes and enjoy! After the wonderful suggestions I received here, I'm hoping to have further misadventures in the kitchen.

Also, if you feel like commenting, comments would be greatly appreciated here.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Summer Squash Pancakes

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

We used to have a tradition for Hanukkah that's fallen by the wayside - different pancakes for each night. It made sense to me since cooking in oil is traditional, latkes are traditional, and C just loved it.

Plus pancakes are easy and delicious. What's not to love?

As our mixed family has moved on to other traditions over the years, we no longer honor this one, but we still love pancakes of all kinds.

I had a lot of summer squash to use up. My Tantre Farm share partner's family doesn't love it, so we've been the recipients of their share of the squash, as well. As I stared in my fridge at the eight, large summer squash that needed to be used up, a lightbulb went off and I thought: "Pancakes!"

Now, zucchini/feta/mint pancakes are kind of a standard, but summer squash has a really different taste - sweeter - and somehow I didn't think that mint or feta would be the right blend.

Instead, this is what I came up with, and it seemed to be a hit, because D had thirds:

A2eatwrite's Summer Squash Pancakes



Ingredients

3 large summer squash, shredded
1 piece of whole wheat bread, ground into bread crumbs (I used a food processor for this, but a blender should work, too, or just use about 1/4 cup commercial bread crumbs)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 container part skim ricotta cheese
4 TBS grated Parmigiano Reggiano (yes, you can use any parmesan here, but the real thing will taste so much better)
2 cloves of garlic, minced fine
salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp fresh, ground pepper)
1 1/2 TBS olive oil
4 TBS reduced-fat sour cream (you can also use any type of sour cream, but this is what I used in terms of the nutritional information below).

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450. Set two oven racks at about the middle of the oven (one just above, one just below).
2. Brush two baking sheets with olive oil.
3. Wash and either grate or shred the summer squash. Mix all the ingredients together.
4. Using a 1/4 cup measure, place pancake mixture on prepared baking sheets and flatten with your hand. Drizzle pancakes with 1 TBS olive oil.
5. Bake at 450 for 13 minutes or until the tops look browned around the edges.
6. Take the pancakes from the oven, flip them and reverse the baking sheets in the oven (place the one from the top on the bottom, and vice versa).
7. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Note: Baking, rather than frying, is important, so that the garlic has a chance to mellow. A fried version of these would need to have the garlic cooked first.

Makes 16 pancakes.

Serve with a TBS of sour cream and a fresh salad. Serves 4.

Nutrition Facts (including the sour cream)

4 Servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories 255.2
Total Fat 15.2 g
Saturated Fat 6.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.2 g
Cholesterol 83.9 mg
Sodium 251.5 mg
Potassium 743.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 16.4 g
Dietary Fiber 3.2 g
Sugars 1.6 g
Protein 15.1 g


As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

If you'd be willing to, please leave your comments here.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Fish Tacos with Kohlrabi and Summer Squash

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

Tuesdays are always a bit of an interesting challenge around my house.

It's end of the week for our Tantre Farm share, and I never know what goodies I'll have to use up. Last Tuesday, these were some things I pulled out of the fridge early in the day:




What was I going to do with kohlrabi and summer squash, onions and cilantro? Well, having discovered a wonderful kohlrabi slaw recently, this seemed like a great base for fish tacos.

Fish tacos are one of my summer favorites, because they are so light and the textures can be so varied. I'm sure that actual Mexican cooks would cringe at some of my filling choices, but I love the versatility that tacos provide in terms of tying various ingredients together.

Obviously, I didn't have the fish, so I ran to Monahan's later that morning and got a beautiful piece of pollack.

When dinner time rolled around, I had an easy dish prepared in about 20 minutes.

Jen's Fish Tacos with Kohlrabi and Summer Squash



Ingredients:

1 lb. pollack, or other firm, white, fish fillet, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
8 small flour tortillas
3 medium summer squash, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 medium kohlrabi, shredded or grated
kernels scraped off of 2 ears of corn
1 cup of salsa, prepared or homemade
a few stalks of cilantro, chopped, plus a few sprigs for garnish
juice from 1 lime
1 TBS olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Saute the onion and summer squash over medium high heat in a 1/2 TBS olive oil until tender, but not overcooked. Stir in the corn kernels and the salsa. Set aside and cover to leave warm.

2. In another pan, heat a little olive oil (1/2 TBS or so) over medium high heat. Saute fish until the pieces start to be opaque. Add the lime juice. Cook until fish is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. Heat tortillas. The easiest way that I find to do this is to wrap them in a stack in paper towels and microwave them for 30 - 45 seconds.

4. Assemble the tortillas: place a tortilla on a plate, spoon the vegetables over the tortilla, spoon some fish over the veggies and sprinkle some of the grated kolhrabi on top. Garnish with a sprig or two of cilantro. Also garnish with sour cream, if desired.

Serves 4 - 2 tacos each.

4 Servings

Nutrition Info:

Amount Per Serving
Calories 413.7
Total Fat 6.4 g
Saturated Fat 1.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.4 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.3 g
Cholesterol 102.7 mg
Sodium 694.3 mg
Potassium 746.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 52.7 g
Dietary Fiber 7.3 g
Sugars 5.6 g
Protein 37.8 g

As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

What's Cooking Wednesday - Blueberry/Lemon/Cornmeal Muffins

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman (or man) lounging about on a lazy summer afternoon must be in want of a good book, lovely sunshine and some fine refreshment.*



And so I found myself, back from vacation, ready to embrace the pleasures of Ann Arbor summer. I was also in "want" of returning to healthy eating, after a week of cruise ship cuisine (the less said about that, the better).

After about 10 minutes of prep and 25 minutes of cooking time, I was ready to move out to the porch with Shannon Hale's Austenland, my muffin and a cold glass of lemonade.

*apologies to Jane Austen

A2eatwrite's Blueberry/Lemon/Cornmeal Muffins



Ingredients:

2 cups blueberries, preferably fresh
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup ww pastry flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
zest from one small lemon
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon extract
lemon juice from half a small lemon
1 tsp granulated sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Spray a 12-muffin pan with cooking spray or an oil atomizer.

3. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients, through the lemon zest.

4. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, then whisk in the buttermilk, the lemon juice and the lemon extract.

5. Blend the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful not to over stir.

6. Stir in the washed blueberries.

7. Using a melon baller or other scoop, fill the muffin pan openings as completely as possible.

8. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

9. Cool in pan on wire rack for 3 or so minutes, then remove, loosening muffins with butter knife, and continue to cool on rack out of the pan.


Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 12
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 102.2
* Total Fat: 1.5 g
* Cholesterol: 38.0 mg
* Sodium: 141.7 mg
* Total Carbs: 20.6 g
* Dietary Fiber: 2.4 g
* Protein: 3.9 g

As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

THE MISSING INK CONTEST WINNER!

THE MISSING INK contest winner was Momisodes, as selected by the Random.org. Momisodes, please drop me an e-mail at jenshaines at gmail dot com and send me your information so I can get this wonderful book to you!

What's Cooking Wednesday: Another Radical Radish Adventure

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I still had radishes.

I was also about to make a lunch for some very special friends of mine: Amy, who was just days from giving birth, and her mom, Jane, who is a dear friend and who now lives in Kansas City. I don't get to see either of them often enough. Jane was in town for the big event, and Amy was just... well, passing time until little Aden was ready to grace us with his presence, which he did at 2:03 a.m. on Sunday, July 5th.

I wanted something healthy and easy on the stomach, and I also know a bit about Amy's tastes, since she's been one of my "adopted" daughters over the years (she's the best friend of my German daughter, Sarah), and she and I share a variety of recipes that we both love.

So here was the menu:



Springtime Strawberry-Radish-Mint Salad (which will be a post in and of itself).
Pepper Bacon Bread, which was a special bake from Zingerman's that day.
Cherry Walnut Whole Wheat Sourdough, from Mill Pond Bakery.
Strawberry Shortcakes (which are Amy's favorite).
And this rather unusual main, which used up my radishes and which we all found delicious - sweet, but covered with cheesy/eggy goodness:

Radish-Apple-Onion Frittata



Ingredients:

5 - 6 large radishes, cut in half and then sliced thin
1 small onion, again cut in half and sliced thin
1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced (with the slices cut in half - an apple peeler/corer is perfect for this, and then just cut the rounds in half)
1 TBS salted butter
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp kosher salt (or sea salt)
6 eggs
3 egg whites
lowfat buttermilk - a splash or two
kosher salt (or sea salt)
1 1/2 cups shredded or grated gruyere

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450. Prep the veggies and apples and grated the gruyere.
2. Heat an oven-proof large saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter in it.
3. When butter is just starting to bubble, add the onions and cook for a minute or two until they start to soften.
4. Add the radishes and apples and cook until they are really soft and somewhat caramelized. Turn the heat up a bit towards the end if they're not caramelizing at all.
5. When they are done, remove the saucepan from the heat and add the 1/2 tsp. salt and the maple syrup and coat the veggies thoroughly.
6. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and a pinch of the kosher salt (this softens the eggs. Beat a bit, but not too much. Set your burner to medium/medium high.
7. Place veggies back on the burner and pour the eggs over them. Stir the eggs just a bit to help the frittata set.
8. When eggs have just started to set, add the grated gruyere on top and place the saucepan in the oven.
9. Bake for 10 minutes. Cut into six wedges and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional Info:

Calories 233.6
Total Fat 15.8 g
Saturated Fat 7.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.1 g
Cholesterol 247.3 mg
Sodium 392.0 mg
Potassium 174.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.3 g
Dietary Fiber 1.0 g
Sugars 0.9 g
Protein 17.0 g

As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Spaghetti-os for Grown-ups: An Uber-Frugal Farmers Market Dinner

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

Okay, so my title had everything to do with how many hyphens I could fit into one sentence.

But it also had a lot to do with the Michigan economy, cutting back, and eating local. Oh, and the dinner itself was delicious.

So here's what I had to start with:


In case my photography isn't crystal clear (and when is it?), this is a picture of lovely Farmers Market radishes and baby yellow squash and the end of some almost-done garlic. I also had a bag of $.99 anelletti and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano from Trader Joe's. Oh and, as always, olive oil.

And bacon. Mmmmmmm.... bacon.

Truly, though, this was it, and here's how the cash flow broke down:

1/2 box of organic baby yellow squash from Frog Holler: $1.50
3 radishes from bunch of 12 $ .37
three pieces of bacon from Ernst Farm: $1.00
1/4 bag of anelletti: $ .25
1/7 tub of parmigiano reggiano $ .71
3 cloves garlic, pinch sea salt, 1 TBS olive oil $ .20 (approx.)
Grand total....... $4.03
Divided by 2 (serves 2) $2.02/serving

And filling... did I mention filling? It also sends me back to my childhood, because this dish combines the taste of bacon/mac and cheese with the texture of those little round things that came in the can with tomato sauce, and it manages to be mostly veggies, so - win-win, right?

Oh. Yeah.

Here is the finished product:






Added bonus? 20 minutes to prep and cook, start to finish. I kid you not. Oh, Jen is feeling pleased with herself tonight.






Spaghetti-os for Grown-ups

Ingredients:

3 large radishes, cut in half and sliced thin
3 baby summer squash, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
3 pieces of bacon
about 1 TBS olive oil
a pinch of kosher salt (or any favorite salt)
parmesan to taste (I used a TBS, D used about 3 TBS) - I recommend splurging for real parmigiano reggiano because it tastes so much better and with this little, it's not going to break your budget.
1/4 package of pasta of choice (but can't really be spaghetti-os without anelletti, which are little round "o's" of pasta)

Directions:

1. Put water on to boil. Prep veggies. Heat olive oil in pan at medium heat.
NOTE: Bacon can be done two ways - you can chop it up and put it in with the veggies and use FAR less olive oil, or you can place it between two sheets of paper toweling and microwave it, 1 1/2 minutes on each side (the second method is less eco-friendly, but probably healthier in terms of removing saturated fat, etc.). I used the second method. If you do the first method, chop your bacon, too. If you use the second method, just set up your bacon and wait for a later step.
2. When water is boiling pour in pasta and set timer. It will take 13 minutes to cook the pasta, give or take. Put garlic and radishes in pan to saute. (And add the bacon, too, if you're going to put it in the pan with the veggies).
3. After about a minute, add in the baby summer squash slices to the saute and put the bacon in the microwave (and cook it, as described above).
4. Stir veggies from time to time, and stir the pasta, so it doesn't stick to your pasta pot (the anelletti do tend to stick).
5. When the timer sounds, drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Turn off the saute pan (the veggies should be a lovely, caramelized brown). Take the bacon out of the microwave and crumble it. (If you cooked the bacon in with the veggies, then drain the pan of oil before adding everything together in the next step).
6. Toss all ingredients together in a large pasta bowl and sprinkle with a dash of salt.
7. Serve with parmesan to taste.

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 2
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 289.1

* Total Fat: 10.5 g
* Cholesterol: 12.0 mg
* Sodium: 257.1 mg
* Total Carbs: 37.1 g
* Dietary Fiber: 4.2 g
* Protein: 12.4 g

As always, nutrition info supplied by the recipe calculator function at Sparkrecipes.com.

Enjoy! More radical radish adventures next week.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Summertime and the Living is Easy...

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

We're finally having gorgeous weather in Michigan - 85 degree days, few clouds in the sky, and the humidity hasn't really kicked in yet.

Bliss.

It's also that time of year, when each night Ann Arbor turns into one giant block party on the Ingalls Mall. It's the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and for those of us on a tight budget, it's Top of the Park time. Top of the Park deserves its own post - it's a great combination of local acts and some from farther reaches and each night, two bands and a movie or other later night entertainment are all provided for FREE. Yeah, take THAT, Michigan economy!

Since most TOP programs start at 7, the Eatwrite family wants to race through dinner and get down to where the action is. And that means dinner has to be quick.

These are two meals we've had this week that we've loved, and have been easy as the proverbial pie. They were also delicious, mostly due to the fact that the Ann Arbor Farmers market is starting to burst with local foods.

Both nights used many of the same ingredients and each dinner was prepared in under 30 minutes. No kidding. (Um, it does help that I'm a fast one with the chopping board). So... here they are:

Pasta with Chicken, Asparagus, Fresh Tomatoes and Basil



Ingredients:

Leftover cooked chicken - about 1 split breast's worth, cut into bite-sized pieces
one large, in season tomato (we got ours from Carpenter's, which already has their wonderful organic tomatoes at the market)
a handful of Michigan asparagus, chopped into bite-sized pieces
a large, lovely organic Carpenter Farms tomato (or tomato of choice)
3 - 4 cloves of garlic sliced thin
a handful of Frog Holler basil, torn
olive oil
Pasta of choice
kosher salt and pepper to taste
parmigiano reggiano to taste for serving

Directions:

1. Start the water for making the pasta.
2. Prep your veggies and chicken, while heating about a TBS olive oil in a pan at medium heat.
3. When the oil is hot, drop the garlic in for about 30 seconds until it releases wonderful aroma. Toss the pasta in the pasta pot (the water should be ready by now).
4. Toss in the asparagus with the garlic.
5. About a minute after that, toss in the fresh tomatoes and cooked chicken. Toss and coat well with the asparagus and garlic. Turn the heat up to medium high for the last 30 seconds or so.
6. Take pan off the heat and place chicken/asparagus/tomato mixture in a large bowl. Add basil, kosher salt and lots of pepper. Toss.
7. Drain pasta and run under cold water. Usually I could combine the pasta with the "sauce" at this point, but I don't for this.
8. Take your plate, pile it with as much pasta as you'd like, top that with a generous dollop of the sauce and top that with shaved parmigiano reggiano to taste.

Serves 2 hungry people. Can easily be doubled or stretched to serve three.

Eat, and run out the door for good music and dancing!

The next night, we had a great, grass fed flank steak to use up from TMZ Farm. I decided to make open-faced steak sandwiches and a corn/tomato/lime salad. We had leftover Florida corn from Father's Day, so it was perfect. Again, we used some Carpenter tomatoes and organic basil from Frog Holler.

Open-Faced Steak Sandwiches



Ingredients:

1 - 2 slices of 1/2" thick sourdough per person
olive oil
garlic salt
dried parsley
12 - 16 oz flank steak
2 - 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
crimini mushrooms - about 2 cups
kosher salt
pepper

Marinade:
1 TBS canola oil
1/4 cup low sodium tamari soy sauce
1 cup black currant juice or something similar
4 - 6 cloves crushed garlic (to taste)


EARLY IN THE DAY:

1. Whisk together marinade ingredients. Place steak in marinade, let it marinate 4 - 12 hours.
2. When ready for dinner: wash and slice mushrooms, prep garlic. Preheat broiler. Slice bread and brush olive oil on top side of each piece. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parsley. Set aside.
3. Heat about 1/2 - 1 TBS oil in saute pan over medium heat. When hot, saute garlic for 30 seconds or so, until aroma is released. Add mushrooms. When the mushrooms are really well cooked, take off heat and sprinkle some kosher salt and lots of pepper over them.
4. While heating the pan for the saute, heat a grill plan to smoking. When you put in the garlic, put the steak on the pan. NOTE: Steak will stick, so if you have a way to brush your grill pan with some oil, please do. This can also be done on the grill over high, direct heat. Cook steak 3 minutes on one side and 2 minutes on the other for medium rare.
5. Take meat off the grill pan and let rest 5 minutes. Mushrooms will soon be ready. When you remove the meat from the grill, put the garlic toast under the broiler for about 2 minutes.
6. After toast is ready and meat has rested, slice the meat VERY THINLY against the grain. Pile meat on each slice of bread. Pile mushrooms on top of meat. Serve with Corn/Tomato/Lime salad.

Corn/Tomato/Lime Salad



Ingredients:

kernels scraped off of two medium ears of corn
1 large tomato
1/4 fresh avocado, chopped (optional - I had this, D, who is allergic to avocadoes, did not - I added it separately)
fresh basil - a small handful, torn into pieces
1 tsp canola oil
juice from 1/2 largish lime
kosher salt to taste
pepper
a dash or two of chili powder or cumin

1. Before you do your other meal prep for the evening, combine all ingredients, stir a few times and let marinate while you do your other cooking.
2. Just before serving, stir a bit and taste for seasoning. Adjust seasoning. Enjoy!

This meal serves about 3 people. (I had one slice of the steak sandwich and a large serving of the salad, D and C both had two slices and some of the salad).

What's Cooking Wednesday: Dinner for a Crowd: Super Simple Grilled Chicken

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

I've had a wonderful group of teens that I've worked with on writing for the past couple of years. Last year, they had a class on writing short stories with me, and this year, basically the same group took a course in advanced creative writing, where they worked on projects of their own choice. Next year, however, I start with a new crop for a "tasting" class in all aspects of creative writing, and most of these folks will be moving on to other things: one has just graduated, two are leaving for different schooling environments, etc.

Each semester, we put together a group project, based on a movie. The first semester we saw Once Upon a Mattress and the students came in the next day and wrote a movie musical script collaboratively, and this semester they did the same thing with a Noir piece after watching To Have and Have Not(okay, so To Have and Have Not is not exactly Noir, but they still managed Noir after seeing it). What was rejected this semester was screwball comedy, although the votes between screwball and noir were just about split, so I promised them a post school-year evening of screwball and dinner.

So we watched Bringing Up Baby with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and if you haven't seen it, you really should. It's hysterical. Truly.

Then there was the issue of what to serve: if you've got a bunch of teenage boys coming over, it's easy - meat and carbs and sugar - and lots of all three. This, however, was a group of girls. So I reached back into my memories for favorites of my exchange daughters over the years and this is what we had: Super Simple Grilled Chicken, Caprese Salad, Garlic Bread and homemade Strawberry Shortcake. I think it's safe to say that the menu was a hit, and I was happy to entertain these students whose writing and personalities I had so enjoyed over the past couple of years.

The chicken recipe has been a "go-to" for me this spring; I love the melding of flavors and the simplicity of the whole thing. I really took a page from Italian cuisine in terms of some of the 3-4 ingredient pasta dishes that I so love.

I meant to get a photo of all the chicken cooking on the grill, but I was too busy cooking at that point, and forgot. Needless to say, this can feed a CROWD. We ended up with about 1/3 of it left over, but that's just fine, because there are myriad uses for leftover chicken. You can also cut this recipe way down, by using just one lb. of chicken and halving the marinade.

Super Simple Grilled Chicken

To get an idea of just how simple, here are the ingredients:



4 - 6 lbs of a mixture of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and drumsticks (I find these are the two most popular cuts for a crowd)
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 big, honking lemons
4 - 6 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 TBS kosher salt
1 hefty sprig of rosemary

Directions:

1. About 6 - 8 hours before cooking, wash and pat dry chicken pieces and cut each breast half in half again, so that you have portions of about 3-4 oz. Place all pieces in one, quart-size freezer bag. (Yes, you can be more ecological and place these in a pan, but I didn't have enough room in the fridge, and I actually think the bag method works better for marinating - I almost never use these, but for this recipe, I do).
2. Whisk together all the other ingredients (well, in the case of the lemons, the juice of those lemons), and carefully pour the marinade into the bag with the chicken.
3. Seal the bag and squeeze everything to distribute the marinade.
4. Place bag in the fridge and every time you open the fridge that day, change the position of the bag, to make sure every morsel of chicken gets marinated.
5. About 40 minutes before serving time (because usually you have to cook the chicken in batches) prep your grill for direct, high heat.
6. Watching for flare-ups, place chicken on the grill. The breast pieces will need 4 - 6 minutes on each side, and the drumsticks will need 8 - 10. If you're using a gas grill, cook these with the lid ON.



Enjoy!

Note: To those watching your waistlines - don't worry about the massive quantities of olive oil - almost all of the marinade comes off as you take the chicken from the bag, so you end up with about 1/2 tsp olive oil per piece of chicken.

What's Cooking Wednesday: POM Wonderful: Wonderfully Decadent and Wonderfully Wholesome

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

The first time I had pomegranate juice was in a Soviet "buffet" at a Moscow movie theater in 1987.

It was also the first time my friend Tanya had had grapefruit juice.

We were both stunned by the other's lack of culinary experience.

Pomegranate juice was rare in the States in those days, but certainly not so now. Touted as the ultimate antioxidant, and reportedly contributing to heart health and prostate health, pomegranates are enjoying a popularity here like never before.

I've been a fan of all things pomegranate since that frigid, December night in Moskva all those years ago. So when I was e-mailed by POM Wonderful and asked if I'd like to receive a free case of POM Wonderful and blog about it, I was delighted.

I get these offers fairly frequently. This is the first one I've accepted, though, because I won't. promote. stuff. with. junk. When someone e-mails me, the first thing I ask for is nutrition info. and ingredients.

All I can say is that this is the first product I've been offered that is pure. 100% pomegranate juice and nothing else. I could deal with that.

Very quickly, six, cute, little bottles arrived in a cold pack. Then I started to think about what might be fun to cook.



Well, raspberries to that.

I mean literally. I thought that raspberries in a Pomegranate reduction sauce, maybe without any sugar, would be interesting. And it was:

Here's the super-duper easy recipe, and it's so good. It's so good that D said, "Tell them it's so good that I licked the plate." And he did. Okay, so I didn't marry him for his table manners. But here it is:

Raspberries in Pomegranate Reduction

1 pint of raspberries
8 oz. of POM Wonderful
1 tsp. sugar (yeah, I did need a little)
1/2 tsp rose flower water

Heat raspberries and POM Wonderful to a simmer. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until the liquid reduces by half. Take off the burner and stir in the sugar and rose flower water. Chill. You're done.

Now, I thought, what should I do with this divine sauce? Well, I happened to have some chocolate cake and some local vanilla ice cream (Calder Dairy - YUM), and this is what we came up with (the decadent part of this post):


Oh. Yeah.

But what I'd originally been thinking was something a whole lot more... wholesome. So, today, I made the Wonderfully Wholesome dessert. And I think it was even better. D didn't lick the plate, but he did have two helpings. So I give you a "real" recipe:

Spring Fruit Cobbler with Cornmeal Crust



Ingredients:

1 recipe Raspberries in Pomegranate Reduction (or a bit less than one recipe, if you happened to use some with chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream the night before)
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup blackberries
4 oz. POM Wonderful

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup stone ground cornmeal (I used Jennings Brothers heritage Bloody Butcher cornmeal)
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
2 1/2 TBS unsalted butter
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/2 tsp sugar, for sprinkling on crust

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Simmer the rhubarb in the POM Wonderful until tender. Add berries and cook about a minute more.
3. Pour fruit mixture into 8X8 baking dish.
4. Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut in butter with knives, a food processor or what have you.
5. Pour in buttermilk and stir just until the dough comes together. Do NOT overwork it.
6. Pretend you are in preschool again, stick your fingers into that dough and drop it in clumps all over the fruit. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp granulated sugar.
7. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. It looks done before 30 minutes, but trust me - leave it in. Otherwise the crust might be soggy underneath.

Enjoy the house smelling like... spring.

Eat hot, cold or in between.

Thanks, POM Wonderful.

What's Cooking Wednesday: Blogger Aid Cookbook Recipe - You Decide!

Please go to The Fairy Blogmother for more What's Cooking Wednesday participants.

So... there's this cookbook:



If you don't know what this is all about, just check out yesterday's post.

The rules for submission are that you can post ABOUT the recipe on the blog, but you can't post the recipe.

I really struggled with what to choose. First of all, I've been sick, sick, sick with one thing or another since early January and my cooking production is not what it usually is. Second, for a whole variety of foods, there are other bloggers who would blow me out of the water - not that this is a competition, but I just would feel... out of my league. Entirely. And I'm going to write about those bloggers tomorrow.

Finally, I realized that desserts would work. Especially healthy desserts that are low in calories and fat, but big on flavor. I do those well.

So I leave you with two choices:

The first is Bittersweet-Banana Power Muffins:




Imagine your house smelling of melted chocolate and rich banana. Imagine cheating on your diet for breakfast (or dessert). Imagine a complete meal of whole grains, fruit and protein and anti-oxidants in a delicious, chocolate muffin. Imagine the whole thing coming in at under 150 calories and under 5 grams of fat.

Imagine... Bittersweet-Banana Power Muffins.

The second, though, is actually my favorite - Orange-Pistachio-Apricot Biscotti:



Imagine biting into a burst of Middle Eastern flavors. Imagine the delicate smell of orange flower water and the tart goodness of dried apricots mixed with the salty goodness of pistachios. Imagine the delicate crunch of this biscotto, which uses a secret ingredient for a slightly different, more delicate texture. Imagine a perfect accompaniment to that morning cup of coffee that won't even put a scratch in your calorie budget. Imagine biting into Spring.

Imagine... Orange-Pistachio-Apricot Biscotti.

Okay, gang, what I submit is up to you. Please just leave a comment below, and that recipe will (hopefully) become part of the history that is Children Are The Future Cookbook. Please leave your votes in the comments section.

And while you're at it, don't forget my Blogger Aid Give-away. Do a good deed and be entered to win a good book!