Mixed Lettuce, Pear, and Goat Cheese Salad with Citrus Dressing

 This is another salad we made while Bailey was home for Spring Break. We have had both salads a couple of times since then. Very tasty.


Dressing:
1 Tablespoon finely chopped shallots
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
4 tsp. fresh Meyer lemon juice (Dean used regular lemon juice and added a little sugar)
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:
2 Tb. fresh orange juice
2 firm ripe Bosc pears, cored and thinly sliced
6 cups mixed baby lettuces
1 head Boston or butter lettuce, torn (about 2 cups- Dean used butter lettuce)
3/4 cu crumbled goat cheese (3oz)



1. Combine shallots and mustard in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in 1/4 cup orange juice and next 3 ingredients (through pepper). Gradually add oil, stirring constantly with a whisk.










2. To prepare salad, combine 2 tablespoons orange juice and pears, tossing to coat. Combine lettuces in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing; toss gently to coat. Arrange about 1 cup lettuce mixture on each of 8 salad plates. Top each serving with about 1/4 cup pear and 1 and 1/2 tablespoons cheese. yields 8 servings

Calories: 100, protein 3.5 g, car 10.2 g

Fall Salad in the Spring!

Bailey is home for Spring Break! We are enjoying our time together. I planned the meals for this week with many things in mind. Bailey is in the middle of her outdoor racing season, it would be a bad time to indulge in the decadent desserts, Mexican food and pasta that we enjoy at Thanksgiving, Christmas and other speicial occasions. Following my 30 days of consecutive running I fell into my typical winter pattern of running only two days a week (more on this at another time). I rededicated myself to a running plan this morning and would like to eat healthy this week. Below is our dinner for Day 1 of the healthy eating week (we had Mexican food last night!!) This recipe was first printed in the October 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine:

 Dean, as always, is our executive chef. We all loved this salad! The dressing was just right and did not over power or compete with the prosciutto or the Stilton cheese. Parker and Dean had Perogies as their main course with the salad on the side:   

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

1 T minced shallot

1 1/2 Ts. champagne or white wine vinegar

1 T. fresh lemon juice

1 T. honey

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 dried apricot, finely chopped

3 Ts. extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 cups torn green leaf lettuce leaves

2 cup thinly sliced Belgian endive (we substituted Butter head lettuce)

1/4  cup Stilton cheese, thinly sliced

1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 (5 oz) package baby arugula

1 oz very thin sliced prosciutto, torn

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a blender. With blender on, slowly add oil; process until well combined. stir in salt and pepper.

2. Combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add apricot mixture, tossing gently to coat. Yield: 4 servings. Calories: 294

Skinny Green Monster

Every day after school this week Parker and I have enjoyed a Skinny Green Monster smoothie! I found the recipe at Skinny Taste.  This smoothie has to be good for us, we are getting a cup of spinach per serving! Here is the very professional looking photo from Skinny Taste:

this image is from the Skinny Taste webpage

 Here is my photo:

I definitely need to take a photography class to learn about composition, lighting, and more!! I apparently thought getting eye level with the object was the way to go!  Only after I went back to look at the Skinny Taste picture did I realize how dreadful I am at photography! However, I believe I have learned a little about "staging" from these photos. Glass should be off center and needs friends and accessories!

Notice the top photo has a kitchen towel as a base and a banana as a happy side kick. Any hand towel that I have nearby is embellished with bleach spots and crumbs or embroidered with  turkeys or bunnies (holiday kitchen towels). And my bananas exist in their bowl in two conditions: unripe and green or overripe with excessive brown spots! How is it that one has on hand a perfectly ripened banana ready for it's cameo in the smoothie picture? And just forget about the pineapple, even if I had bought a fresh pineapple to make a smoothie I would never have thought to buy an extra (get it - like movie extra!) to appear in the photo! Despite being photographed in less than stellar conditions by an obvious amateur the smoothie was delicious!

Skinny Green Monster

1 small frozen ripe banana

2 cups baby spinach

1 Tablespoon Better than Peanut Butter (I used 2 Tbsp. reduced-fat Jiff)

3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

Mix ingredients plus 1 cup ice in a blender and blend! 

I looked for Better Than Peanut Butter at Sprouts (healthy nearby grocer) but could not find it. If you make the original recipe it serves two and has 253.4 calories, 5.5 g. fiber. If you use 2 Tbsp. reduced-fat Jiff as I did, I have no idea how many calories are in it!! This is the first green drink I have ever liked, I previously borrowed my friends juicer and tried several green drinks and disliked them all. Parker is suspicious of and avoids anything green or healthy, however, he liked the Skinny Green Monster!

Making Crosses Day 2

Another busy day, I can see that it will be a challenge to make a cross every day. With regard to my ongoing projects I managed to squeeze in a mile run tonight after seeing Parker run in the DMR at the Prosper Relays; I began my Project Life scrapbook; and made a cross for day 2 of Lenten cross making (not in that order).

In the writing prompt for cross making the author said something that really sets the tone for the entire cross making project and coincidentally also fits with the Project Life philosophy and life in general: "God wants our attention not our perfection." So much of what I do has to be squeezed in like my one mile run. Was that a quality run that I'm proud of...no. It was what I had time to do and it was better than no run at all. Each day I prioritize those things that I will not rush through, I choose which activities will get my full and undivided attention. On the long run day it's running. On each day I try to give the things of God my full attention: prayer,devotional, Bible reading, preparing for Sunday school, Bible study. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I do three lessons of Bible study in one day and I do several days of the read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan in one day to catch up. Sometimes I get distracted while praying but the point is that often I am successful and it is my intention to put God first.

Reading the affirmation that God wants our attention today was perfect on this day when there was so much to get done. Another thing the author mentioned is that "everything can be salvaged". She was speaking of the creation process, that if you make a mistake it can be morphed into something that isn't a mistake. And of course, she means that we as people can also be salvaged. I feel I am in a process of being salvaged by God's grace.

Madeleine L'Engle wrote: "Something we regret at the time as abysmally stupid may well end up being the one thing needed under the circumstances".  This made me think of the often-quoted verse (from Bible Gateway):

Romans 8:28

New International Version (NIV)

 ²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose. 

The Bible Gateway notes say it this way: Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, : or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—

I can take a mistake I make while making a cross and turn it into something else, if I need to glue something over the mistake or paint over it, so be it, whatever it takes, it can be salvaged. Amazingly, God does the same for me. Whatever mistake I make, whatever sinful state I fall into, God can make it right. God doesn't have to resort to gluing something over the mistakes in my life, He is the original creator and what God does is transform, renew, restore. But the point is, I too, can be salvaged.

For my cross I wanted to do something that symbolized transformation. I thought of butterflies.

 

For the cross I copied images from Google of butterflies into Power Point and printed them out. Using a rubber stamp and brown ink I stamped all over the butterfly page. I then used watercolors and watercolor crayons to overlay color onto the entire design.

So I worked on Project Life, did my devotional and made a cross, went to Parker's track meet, ran one mile and then made butterscotch/peanut butter candy to take to Bailey tomorrow (Big 12 competition).

My mother and grandmother made the candy every year at Christmas. I am making it now because it travels well! Recipe below:

Taking the time to make the cross seemed impractical today. I am so glad I took the time to do it. It has given me great comfort throughout the day to picture God as the ultimate creator, creating something from so little and allowing me to return to Him again and again to be salvaged.

Valentine's Day at our house involves eating some form of chocolate and watching the movie Chocolat, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. This Valentines Day was not different. Even though we are not all together (Bailey is in Columbia), we all planned to celebrate the same way. Bailey told me earlier in the week that she and her roommate, Kelcey, planned to watch the movie and make something chocolate, I hope that worked out, sometimes college life, athletic training or study change the best laid plans.

Our Movie

Our Chocolate

 (the cake tastes better than it looks, this is where it becomes obvious that I am not a professional baker, my cakes are not always pretty but usually they are tasty!)

Flourless Nutella Chocolate Cake

(from the Unofficial Guide to Nutella, download for Kindle)

also available on the World Nutella Day website

200g  unsalted butter, cut into chunks (7.05 ounces butter)

100g dark chocolate  (3.52 ounces dark chocolate)

200g Nutella  (7.05 ounces Nutella)

100g white sugar  (3.52 ounces sugar)

6 eggs, separated

1 t. instant coffee or espresso powder (not for me)

hazelnuts for garnish

1.      Butter and lightly coat a 9- inch spring-form pan with cocoa powder. Preheat the oven to 350 and move your baking rack to the lowest rung/place in the oven.

2.    Cut the butter into chunks and the dark chocolate as well, and melt in a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth. If melting in a microwave, take out to stir every 30 seconds or so until smooth.

3.    Remove from heat/microwave and add the Nutella to the still-warm chocolate mix and mix well, until incorporated completely with a small whisk or fork. Add the instant coffee/espresso powder as well and mix.

4.    Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into two separate bowls. Add the white sugar to the yolks and beat for a minute or two with a hand mixer or a whisk.

5.    Add the chocolate mixture to the egg yolks and mix thoroughly.

6.    In a bowl where the egg whites are separated out, whisk/beat them until peaks start to form, tending toward stiffer peaks rather than just soft peaks.

7.    Add the beaten egg whites back to the chocolate mixture, mixing by hand until fully incorporated (this may take a few minutes) with a whisk.

8.    Pour the mixture into the spring-form pan and place into the oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes (mine was done closer to 30 minutes). Test after 20 minutes how jiggly the center of the cake still is – you don’t want the cake to be completely solid when finished but the center should not sway when moved. Stick a toothpick in a few places to make sure it’s cooked through and the toothpick comes out clean.

9.    Let cool (the cake will probably deflate quite a bit) at least 30 minutes before serving, and garnish with chopped hazelnuts or hazelnut halves.

I cooked the cake longer than 30 minutes, I checked it with a toothpick as suggested. I think it would have been good, just gooey-er if I had stopped baking at the 30 minutes. I garnished with walnuts because we didn't have any hazelnuts. I made a raspberry-chocolate sauce of my own design by melting chocolate chips and combining with (frozen) raspberries. We loved it!

Lemon-Poppy Seed Pound Cake

This has been a busy week! I am still working on the three projects that I have going right now. Today is day 15 of my 30 days of consecutive running project (I have reached the half-way point!!!); I am still in Leviticus in my read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan (I am 6 days behind- but not to worry, I have been this far behind before and I will catch up); and I am still taking a picture a day for Project Life (while waiting for the Design A pages to become available again!).

One of my Facebook friends received a book for Christmas that she mentioned as 365 Days of Creativity, however I couldn't find that exact title anywhere.  She started a blog to provide accountability and to document her artistic and creative journey with the book. Apparently there is a prompt every day to get you started: make something out of money, make something out of an old book, create something depicting something you saw in a dream. It sounds like so much fun. I just can't figure out how I could make time for one more thing that has to be done daily. I am considering using the book in a different way, maybe a project a week. I ordered the book that I think she is using from Amazon and will decide what to do with it when it arrives. 

Last night I made 2 Lemon-Poppy Seed Pound Cakes, one for a friend who had surgery and one for Parker and Dean. Apparently I have made it before because in the cookbook beside the title I had written "very good". I don't know if everyone does this, but my mom and my grandmother would write a quick two word review along with noting a different cooking time or oven temperature beside recipes they liked. My grandmother would also add the date and make note if it was served at a holiday dinner. I have continued the two word notation.

My two cakes came out more like a lemon-poppy seed bread than a cake, I don't know why. Regardless of the texture, Dean and Parker consumed the cake entirely (minus my one slice) in about 3 hours. I thought there would be some left for today, but sadly NO.

 prep time: 25 minutes, cook: 1 hour

Cooking spray
1 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup  butter, softened
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 T. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Ts. poppy seeds
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
2/3 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Coat an 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 tsp. flour
3. Beat granulated sugar and butter with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 4 minutes). Add egg whites and egg, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon rind and vanilla. Lightly spoon 1 2/3 cups flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine 1 2/3 cups flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack, remove from pan. Poke holes in top of cake using a wooden skewer. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl, brush over warm cake. cool completely. Yield: 12 servings. CALORIES: 226, FAT 6.7g, CARB 38.2g

This recipe is from the book All-New Cooking Light. My pans were 9x5, I always cook for less time and check with a toothpick, my cakes were ready at 50 minutes rather than an hour probably due to the different pan size.

Happy Baking!