December 23, 2014 · 12:56 pm

Yeasty Waffles

Waffle

We love waffles in the morning. There is simply nothing better on a cold frosty morning and I can think of nothing else on Christmas morn. The waffles we love are totally home made. The frozen or mix kind just do not stand up to ours. So get yourself a waffle iron and try this recipe. It also makes great pancakes. We love it either way with blueberries or cooked pears. Use an electric mixer to beat it all together properly.

Ingredients

1 pkg. dry yeast (about a level Tbs.)
1 3/4 cups of warm milk and 1/4 cup warm water.
3 beaten eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 Tsp. Sugar
1/4 Tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1 Tsp. vanilla

Directions

Put the water in with the milk and if needed warm them in the microwave for a minute or so.
Beat the eggs, add the milk and water and the yeast. Continue beating until well mixed, a minute or so. Now add the flour, salt, sugar, vegetable oil and the corn meal. Mix very throughly, scraping the sides. Let it sit for an hour or so until it rises to about double its size.

Now oil and heat up your waffle iron and beat down the mixture a little. Pour a little into your waffle iron, ours takes about 1/3rd cup but it can vary depending on the size of your iron. We put the top down but we don’t latch it, that allows it to rise more than normal. Pop it out with a fork when done and serve them hot from the iron with some fruit and Sugar free Maple Syrup (Cary’s). These are great!

Sauteed Pears (microwaved)

1 pear per two persons. Peal and core a pear. Slice it and place the slices into a microwaveable dish. Add a pat of butter, cinnamon and a dash of rum (or not) and microwave for 1-2 min. depending on how hard the pear is. Put this on your waffle with maple syrup, yumm!

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December 16, 2014 · 6:26 pm

Mini Chocolate Soufflés

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Don’t fear the soufflé! It is not a guaranteed flop. The trick is to keep your mixing bowl and beaters grease and oil free. Even the smallest amount of oil can result in the egg whites not stiffening up.

In keeping with the portion control aspect of the book, we are offering small soufflés. The idea is to cook them in micro muffin pans, one or two of these is more than enough for a dessert. They might even make an interesting appetizer. They cook quickly, just 15 mins. or so, and they don’t deflate like a larger scale soufflé. We replace the sugar in the recipe with Splenda. We will be placing this recipe in the next version of my book, “Small Foods”.

You can also make larger ones in ramekins. Put them in the oven when you serve the dinner. They cook in about 30 mins. so by the time you are done they’ll be ready. They need to be served hot from the oven as they do begin to shrink very quickly as they cool.

Ingredients

¼ cup of Splenda (1/3rd cup if you desire a sweeter soufflé)
1 Tbs. Cornstarch
1/8 Tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 Tsp. salt
½ cup milk
½ Tsp. vanilla
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate (Baker’s Chocolate)
2 egg yolks (split the whole eggs into yolks and whites)
1 Tbs. melted butter
2 egg whites

Directions

Makes 12 minis or two 7 oz. ramekins

Heat oven to 350 degrees f.

Measure the chocolate carefully. Look at the weight of the bar on the package and figure out how many blocks will make an ounce or use a postal scale. Melt the chocolate in a microwave, double broiler or one small pot in a big pot of boiling water .

Mix the Splenda and cornstarch in a small pan. Gradually add the milk stirring to dissolve the dry ingredients, then stir in the chocolate, butter and vanilla. Boil and stir until all is dissolved. Set aside to cool a little.

Separate the egg yolk from the white into separate bowls. Beat the egg yolks in a small mixing bowl. I use a whisk for this and beat until the yolks are thickened. Beat the chocolate mix into the yolks. Beat for about a minute and let stand until it cools.

Beat the egg whites in a mixing bowl on high, adding the crème of tartar and salt. You will need to beat these for a while as you want the whites to form stiff peaks approx. 5 min. Stir about half of this mix into the chocolate mix, then gently fold the remainder in.

Spray a mini muffin pan with PAM and then fill the cups to the brim. Cook for about 15 min. They will rise up and a toothpick inserted will come out clean when they are done. These can cool and be served as needed, they don’t deflate much.

If you are going to make ramekin sized soufflés, spray two ramekins with PAM and fill them about ¾ full. Cook for about 30 mins. (same note for being done as above). Serve immediately in the cup (warn your guests that the crockery is hot!) as they do deflate rapidly.

I like to add a dollop of whip cream to the top to dress them up.

P.S. I’ve placed these in the fridge for a couple of days and warmed them in the toaster oven. They come out just fine. I’ve frozen them too and that works as well.

Enjoy!

ThumbnailSmallFoodsCoverMy book “Small Foods” available on Amazon, has lots more recipes, sorry no desserts or sauces, just Entrees and all of them ramekin sized. We will add the desserts section in the next book.

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November 26, 2014 · 10:26 pm

Kale Salad, Kale Omelette

Kale
My wife has been trying to get me to eat more healthy foods, many of which I’ve never tried before. Some are pretty tasty and some I just don’t like. She read some where that Kale was very good for you, full of antioxidents, amino acids, some other stuff. Anyway she bought a head of it and brought it home.

She made a Kale salad with pine nuts and goat cheese. You could probably use blue cheese if you don’t like goat cheese. She toasted the pine nuts in a small frying pan and a little olive oil. Keep an eye on these as you just want them to brown a little.  They will rapidly burn if you aren’t careful. Put it all together in a salad bowl and add a little of your favorite Italian dressing.

I found that the Kale tasted a little like a cross between spinach and curly parsley. Denser and chewier than spinach but good. I thought I’d try it on my own so I made a Kale omelette. Simply beat an egg, pour it into a hot frying pan, let it cook until it just hardened, then add the ingredients to one half. In this case finely chopped Kale, onion, ham and cheddar cheese. Flip the egg over on top of the filling, cover and cook until the cheese melts. It’s an interesting flavor. The texture is kind of unexpected but not bad.   Try it you might like it. Enjoy!

Kale Omlet

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November 15, 2014 · 7:34 pm

Black And White Stuffing

T day is coming up so i’m reposting this.Stuffing
I’m continuing with the Holiday theme for a little longer. I’ve made this stuffing for a very long time and it seems to be a tradition now with our family. It’s basically just a bread stuffing, but using pumpernickle and Italian bread. Don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of pumpernickle the turkey kind of overrides all the other flavors. I buy it in the bakery department of our food store and if it’s not sliced, I have them slice it.

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That way, you save one step and have nice uniform squares for your stuffing. I slice it again the long way, usually one half loaf at a time and then slice it the other way into 1″ cubes.

Put it all into a big bowl and let it dry out for 24 hrs or so. That way it won’t absorb too much liquid from the bird. My wife likes it baked outside of the bird, so add some chicken stock to the stuffing. I like it in the bird, you won’t need the stock. One loaf of both breads will do a 12 lb. or so bird.

Ingredients

1 Loaf Crusty Italian Bread chopped in 1″ cubes
1 Loaf Dark Pumpernickle chopped in 1″ cubes
1 large onion chopped
1  sweet apple peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup Celery stalks and leaves chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup melted margarine
1/2 Tsp. each Salt and Pepper
1 Tsp. crushed Sage
1 Tsp. crushed Thyme
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock if baking the stuffing

Directions

I get out a large soup pot, kind of like a lobster pot or a giant bowl, to hold all of the bread. Chop the bread into 1″ cubes. Leave them sit at least over night (two is better) to dry out a little. The drier they are the less mushy the stuffing will be when done. Add the seasonings to the bread and mix.

Saute the vegetables in the margarine until softened. Add the apple and raisins (if you don’t like raisins use Crazins (sweetened cranberries, or dried apricots), the wine (and the stock if you’re not baking it in the bird). Mix it all up and stuff the bird (or a large baking dish, cover and cook for about an hour at the end of the bird).

Enjoy!

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November 2, 2014 · 8:47 pm

Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

T day is coming up so i’m reposting this. I’ve been out sick for the past couple of weeks, Flu, Cold, Infected Tooth, who knows? Any way I was in no mood to Blog so no Blog.

Csauce

It’s the season so I decided to add a couple more of our Holiday favorites. Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce is not totally sugar free. It does have some orange juice in it and cranberries do have a little sugar in them. This is a whole berry sauce (not jellied). We used to make it with tons of sugar, now we use Splenda. One batch makes enough for about 6 people, so if it’s only you and one other, cut everything in half. Ideally you want to make this ahead of time so it has time to thicken in the fridge. The day before is good but at least 4-6 hours ahead.

Ingredients

2 12 oz. bags of fresh cranberries
1 good sized orange
1 cup of Splenda
2 cups of water
2 Tbs. of White Wine
1 Tbs. of Lime juice

Directions

Wash the cranberries in a strainer and drain. Put them in a medium pot with the two cups of water, the wine and lime juice. Make zest out of the orange skin using a zester. It’s a tool you can buy at the grocery store that cuts thin strips out of the peel, leaving the white pith on the orange.

Put the zest into the pot and squeeze the juice from the orange and add it to the pot. Add the cup of Splenda and stir it all together.

Cover and boil for about 5 min. or so. Then turn down the heat to low and simmer for about ten minutes. Let it cool on the stove and then in the fridge.

Enjoy!

ThumbnailSmallFoodsCover

My book “Small Foods” available on Amazon, has lots more recipes, sorry no deserts or sauces, just Entrees and all of them ramekin sized. We will add the deserts section in the   next book.

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October 15, 2014 · 6:02 pm

Low Sugar Pumpkin Pie

PumpkinPie

Thanksgiving and The Holidays are coming so I thought it might be the time to start talking, PIE. I was working on the perfect pumpkin pie starting about 20 years ago. Through successive versions I finally got to where I thought I had it. It was delicious, but it had more calories and fat in it then I really intended. For a few years I left it well enough alone until we decided to start lowering the amount of white sugar in our diet. The pie had to be changed.

So I started working on a no sugar pumpkin pie. I switched the sugar to Splenda. That was a big start, but Molasses is basically burned sugar and that’s part of what gives pumpkin pie it’s distinct flavor. Try as I could, I could not find a replacement, even Pusser’s Black Rum didn’t do it.

So I settled on a low-sugar pie. It’s still over the top in flavor (also calories so don’t eat a lot of it). We leave out the graham cracker crust, but it’s still dynamite. We love it, hopefully you will too. This makes a big pie. If you need smaller, cut the recipe in half  and cook in Large Ramekins (PAM sprayed) for 20 min. @ 350 then check for doneness with a toothpick.

We like a thick pie so we use a large spring form pan.  There’s no crust on this pie so the spring form makes it easy to remove and plate up, cut and remove attractive slices. I like it with a spritz of whipped creme, my wife likes shredded dark chocolate on top. Enjoy.

Low Sugar Pumpkin Pie

2 15 oz. cans of Pumpkin
4 Eggs beaten
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
4 Tbs. of Mollasses
2 shots dark or Spiced Rum
3/4 cup of Splenda
4 Tsp. Cinnamon
2 Tsp. Ginger
2 Tbs. Cornstarch
1 Tsp. Ground Nutmeg
Dash each Salt and cardamom
Squirt of Lemon Juice, dash each of Vanilla and Almond Extract
PAM

Directions

Pre Heat Oven to 450 degrees F
Beat the 4 eggs and add the heavy cream, Rum, Molasses, dashes of lemon juice, vanilla and almond extract.

Add the two level Tbs. of Cornstarch, 4 Tsp. of Cinnamon, 2 Tsp. of Ginger, 1 Tsp. of Nutmeg, dashes of salt and cardamom. Then add the two cans of pumpkin. Mix this all throughly and scrape the sides to get it all mixed. Spray your pie pan with PAM.

Pour into the pie pan. Place in the 450 degree oven for 15 mins. Then reduce the oven to 350 degrees F for 50 mins. Let it cool before serving. We usually refrigerate it until needed. Whip cream on top, YUM!

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My book “Small Foods” available on Amazon, has lots more recipes, sorry no deserts, just Entrees and all of them ramekin sized. We will add the deserts section in the next book.

 

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September 25, 2014 · 6:48 pm

Vacation and Quiche Lorraine

canyonsm2

We took a couple of weeks off to go to Utah and see the canyons in Bryce and Zion National Parks with a couple of friends. They wanted to cook all of the meals or go out to eat, so I didn’t get a chance to try out any new recipes on them. So I’m including a recipe from the book. The canyons were beautiful, immense and impressive, if you haven’t been there you have to go. More on my photo site in a few days when I sort them all and get them up http://www.fishbourne.shutterfly.com

Quiche

QUICHE LORRAINE

Ingredients

1/4 cup each coarsely chopped; Green Pepper, broccoli, Mushrooms and Onions
1/2 cup coarsely chopped ham or ham lunch meat
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Bisquick, pancake mix or flour
Salt and Pepper to taste
Dash of ground Nutmeg
PAM

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
We put all of the vegetables in a bowl and cook them in the microwave for a few minutes. Let them cool before continuing. You can also saute everything in a little olive oil if you wish.
In a medium bowl, beat the two eggs. Add the cheddar cheese, ham, milk and Bisquick. Add the cooled vegetables, (if they are hot they will cook the eggs), the nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix throughly.
Spray two ramekins with PAM and fill them with the mixture. You may have enough for 3-4 ramekins.
Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Start checking them after 20 mins.
Run around the edges of the ramekin with a butter knife and they should just pop out when you turn them over on the plate, Flip them back over so the brown top shows. Should they stick in the cup, spoon them out and place the top on top. They will still taste delicious!
There are many variations of this dish you can try, crab, lobster, smoked salmon, sausage, bacon, swiss, mozzarella, etc. Be creative!

This is also another dish that makes excellent mini versions for an appetizer. Make two or three batches in mini muffin cups. Be careful, they may cook very quickly, so check them often. Enjoy!

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September 3, 2014 · 5:03 pm

Snappy Snap Cookies

SnappysI decided to add a deserts section to the next book. The idea is that they would be low, or no sugar and small, a few bites are really all you need. I’ve been making low sugar ginger snaps for years ( they do contain Molasses ). These are very spiced up cookies (not hot spice, just lots of spice flavor). Lynda loves these, so I thought I would share the recipe. It’s just a basic cookie dough recipe without all the sugar, I use Splenda instead. Makes about 36 or so.

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2.5 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 cup of Splenda
1 egg
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3rd cup Molasses
1/2 stick melted Butter
2 Tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tsp. each Cinnamon and Ginger
1 Tsp. each Ground Cloves and Nutmeg
Dash or two of salt
Tsp. or two of Splenda for the topping

Directions

Beat the egg in a medium bowl, add the vegetable oil and molasses and mix it all together.
In a large bowl add the flour, Splenda, baking soda, spices and salt and mix them together thoroughly.
Whisk the liquids into the dry ingredients and add the butter. Knead this in your hands until everything is completely mixed together.
Put a sheet of non-stick aluminum foil on two cookie trays. Roll out a handful or so of the dough on a board to about 1/4 ” thickness and punch out the cookies. Separate them from the board with a metal spatula (thin flipper), sprinkle with a little bit of the Splenda and put them on the cookie sheet. We usually just cut them into circles with a small juice glass, this mix doesn’t tend to do ornate shapes well, but we have made ginger bread men by being very careful with the spatula.
Bake for 10 minutes shifting the top and bottom trays at five minutes to bake them evenly. Remove from oven and pull the foil sheet to remove them from the tray. You don’t want them to continue cooking on the hot tray. Enjoy!

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August 27, 2014 · 2:57 pm

Crab Minnies

crab

I wrote about making the world’s best crab cakes in “Small Foods”. We consider this recipe to be one of the best. I also thought it could make an excellent appetizer, of course it has to be downsized so it is just a bite or two. So instead of a ramekin I used mini muffin trays. You do have to adjust the proportions based on how many you are making, for 12 I use half of the recipe and you’ll probably have enough left over for one large cake to freeze. The full recipe makes about 24 or so. Additionally, I don’t use the super jumbo crab at $10 per can as you just have to break it up to put it in the tray. A small bite like this also needs a burst of crab flavor, so just use less expensive fancy lump. Maybe you have a source for fresh blue crab, that would be really excellent, but check for shell if you haven’t picked it yourself. You and your friends will love this. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cans regular crab meat
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. dill
2 dashes each of paprika, cayenne pepper
and garlic powder.
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 stick of butter melted
1 or 2 tbs. of lemon juice
8 sheets of filo dough
Cherry Tomatoes or Salsa for the topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place a frozen filo sleeve (there are usually two in a package) out to defrost. This will take a couple of hours. I usually just put this out to defrost in the morning and refrigerate it until needed. Do not microwave to defrost as it will make the sheets brittle. You can roll the unused sheets back up into the sleeve and refreeze when you are done.

When the filo has defrosted:

Open the cans of crab meat and drain them

Beat two eggs in a medium bowl. Add the crab meat, bread crumbs, onion, basil, spices,  1/2 of the melted butter, a teaspoon of lemon juice and mix well.

Oil the muffin tin with PAM (or a drop of olive oil in each) then wipe out the excess with a paper towel.

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Unroll the filo dough and remove two sheets, keeping them together. Cut the sheet into 4″ squares. Press the squares gently into the bottom of the cup and let the overflow fall around the cup. Cut more as needed.

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Put about a Tbs. of mixture in each and a drip of the remaining butter. Press firmly to pack the crab mixture in and force out any air. Fold the filo from the sides over the top of the cake and press again.

Bake for about 30 min. or until the top turns brown. Top with a slice of cherry tomato.

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August 19, 2014 · 7:39 pm

Chicken Marsala

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This week we decided to try to make chicken Marsala in a ramekin. Normally we would make this in a sauté pan, for a change though we decided to ramekinize it. We started by sautéing the onions. We like to cook them slowly until they turn brown and caramelize a bit. Then we put  in the mushrooms with a couple of pats of butter. By this time we began to realize that we were cooking everything but the chicken in the pan. We like to use chicken thighs as they come out very tender, but the classic dish is made with the breasts. Julienne the chicken by slicing it with the grain ( lengthwise ). When you cook this in a ramekin it all links together and forms a kind of interesting meatball.

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken breast or two thighs cut into strips
1 cup of coarsely chopped mushrooms
1/2 a medium onion cut into slices and broken up.
1/4 cup of Marsala wine
1/4 cup of cream
Dash or two of lemon juice
Butter
Handful or two  of cooked egg noodles or rice
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees
Cut the chicken up into julienne slices
Saute the onions in a few pats of butter until they are just turning brown. Remove from the pan and reserve. Cook the mushrooms in the pan, you may need a couple more pats of butter. In a small bowl, put the onion, chicken, mushrooms, marsala wine, cream, salt and pepper and mix them up. PAM a couple of ramekins and fill each with the mixture. Bake for 1 hour. You’ll probably be able to pick the “meatball” out of the ramekin with a pair of forks. Serve over top of noodles or rice with a little of the gravy. For this dish we like a tasty chardonnay, try Lucky Star for this.

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