Not to be used on the stovetop.

Kate and I strongly recommend that you follow the directions on the box of microwave popcorn.  It isn't a good idea to try it on the stove.  Unless, of course, you like the left-over crunchy kernels, then, this method is for you!  The entire bag tastes like kernels.

Microwave Popcorn - Stove top style

Ingredients:
1 bag microwave popcorn
1 pot with lid
1 stove top, set on medium heat

Open bag of popcorn

Poor into pot on stove top

Crack lid to allow for steam release, but not too much as to let the popcorn jump out and hit you in the eye.

Remember your start time

Heat until popping slows.  Remove from heat immediately. Eat.  Ewwww.
FLOP~ FLOP! FLOP~ FLOP! FLOP~ FLOP! FLOP~ FLOP! 

This is why you are supposed to make microwave popcorn in the microwave.  They should put that on the label somewhere. 


Microwave Popcorn


Ingredients:
1 bag microwave popcorn
1 microwave

When making microwave popcorn, it is important to listen to the popping.  When the popping stops, turn off microwave IMMEDIATELY.  Overcooking can cause nasty smells.  Burned popcorn does not belong inside the house.  Hopefully squirrels like it.
NASTY SMELLING FLOP ~  NASTY SMELLING FLOP 

Follow directions on microwave popcorn box.  Pour in bowl.  Enjoy!
FOOD ~ FOOD ~ FOOD ~ FOOD ~ FOOD ~ FOOD ~ FOOD

Summer Salads... Healthy style if you please!

broEmily and I were heading off to a Memorial Day BBQ and decided we needed to make a big batch of salads to bring with us.  When I think of summer, I think of potato salad, chips, corn on the cob, and tons of fattening mayo to go around.  We decided to trim down some of these recipes.  Our little cousin, Jessica (8 years old), was there to assist with the cooking.  Before we even began, she told us she hates potato salad, pasta salad, and broccoli salad.  So, not only did we have the goal of making them healthy, we had to make them kid approved!  I believe we accomplished just that.


Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:
3 stems broccoli
5 oz shredded or finely sliced carrots (my guess is about 1 cup)
2/3 cup raisons
8 slices (turkey) bacon
3/4 cup (fat free) mayo
6 T sugar (or sugar replacement)
3 T white vinegar

Cut broccoli into small chunk.  Mix with Carrots and Raisins. Jessica does this all by hand.

Mix together mayo, sugar, and vinegar.  This makes the dressing. Pour all over the broccoli.  I refrigerated several hours, until well chilled.  Just before serving, I broke up the bacon and tossed it in the bowl, then mixed.  This one got amazing reviews.  We will call it.... FOOD!

Potato Salad

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds baby potatoes, cut in half, then quartered

1 medium dill pickle, finely diced 

3/4 cup (fat free) mayo

3 T mayo

1 1/2 t lemon juice

1 1/2 t vinegar

1/4 t sugar (or sugar replacement)

1 t dill

salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in salted water for approximately 20 minutes.  They should be done when you poke them with a fork with little resistance.  Be careful not to cook for too long.  You may end up with mashed potato salad.

Mix together all other ingredients.  Then, gently fold the dressing into the potatoes.  To Emily and I, this tastes like normal potato salad.  Others thought that it was more mustard-y than they were used to.  So, Emmy and I would give this a "FOOD!!!", others may give it a "FLOP!!!".  You are going to have to decide.

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
1 14 oz box of pasta (We use the high fiber type, Rotini shape)
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 oz (turkey) pepperoni - cut into tiny pieces
1 cup (light) Italian dressing
1/2 can artichoke hearts, diced
1 T lemon juice
1/2 cup vinegar

Boil pasta in salted water for 7 to 8 minutes. Drain.  Mix dressing of Italian dressing, vinegar, and lemon juice.  (Depending on the brand of Italian dressing you use, you may need to add more or less vinegar and lemon juice.)  Fold pasta, veggies, pepperonis together with dressing.  Refrigerate until well chilled.  Emmy and I love this one (FOOD!!!)  It tastes great the next day. 

Raspberry Brownies

Ingredients:
So, for these we cheat.... We use brownies mixes.  There are a few great mixes out there that are minimal guilt.  All you add is a container of yogurt.  We added caramel yogurt.
12 oz Raspberries (reserve some for decoration)
1/4 brown sugar (or brown sugar substitute)
2 t each corn starch and water

We baked the brownies in an 8X8 pan.  Then, once cooled, topped with reserved raspberries in a fancy fashion.

In a small sauce pan, crush remaining raspberries.  Cook on medium heat until reduced by at least half and taking on a syrupy consistency.  Slowly add brown sugar until sweetened to your liking.  (I have some of the flavor syrups you use to make Italian soda.  I snuck some french vanilla flavoring in, just for fun.) In a separate dish, mix corn starch and water together, then add to the raspberry syrup.  This will thicken it.  As soon as you have a thickened consistency, pour over the brownies.

These were ok the day they were made. Nothing spectacular.  I covered them with plastic wrap and tried one today (the next day).  They are so good!  FOOD, FOOD, FOOD.  There is something about a cold brownie.  :)

Kate sampled all of the salads with me today.  She says: a real summertime treat. They're typical cold salads to bring to a potluck.  The broccoli salad had a nice and sweet sauce that wasn't overly sweet. The potato salad had a nice mustard base and the skin on potatoes added a good hearty texture sure to fill.  The pasta salad was a delight. I like the addition of the artichoke hearts. A nice spin to the traditional pasta salad.  The raspberry topped brownie was fantastic! And the tartness of the raspberries nicely complemented the bold chocolate brownies and made the whole dessert not terribly sweet, as some brownies can be.  Kate says: Edible AND delicious!

Chorizo Egg Bake: Michi-Mex #2

I went to a church brunch and one of the girls (thanks Jane!!!) had brought this amazing Chorizo Egg Bake.  I was in love.  Unfortunately, Chorizo (spicy pork sausage) is crazy high in calories and fat.  That is what makes it so good.  So, I searched in the internet high and low for Chorizo recipes, and modified one to use with lean ground beef. You can make this recipe with real Chorizo if you would like, it is easier that way, but if low calorie is what you are looking for, try it my way.  Also, this is a great recipe to make when you make the wet burritos...as you can use half the veggies for each recipe.

Homemade Chorizo

I mixed together 1 t oregano, 1/2 t black pepper, 1/2 t salt, 2 t cumin, 1/8 t clove, 1 t paprika, 1 clove garlic, 3 T white vinegar, 3 T water, and 1 1/2 T ground red pepper (This makes it VERY spicy. I might recommend going 1/2 T or 1 T for a milder meat)

Add 3/4 lb lean ground beef.  Cover.  Let rest in fridge over night or longer. 

Egg Bake Recipe (Serves 6.  When low fat options are used, it should be about 230 calories a slice, 9.3 grams of fat, and 2 grams of fiber)

Ingredients:
3/4 lb Chorizo, crumbled
3 poblamo peppers
1/2 vidalia onion
1/2 each red, orange, green bell peppers
3 corn tortillas
1 c egg substitute
1 c Fat Free milk
1/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 bunch green onion
1 cup 2% shredded Mexican blend cheese
2 deli slices light pepperjack
Sour cream (I use fat free) and Salsa to top
A shredded lettuce bed, if you please.

Roast off poblano peppers. Place in paper bag approximately 10 minutes.  Peal off skin.  Place in bottom of a pie pan.

Cook off vidalia onion, bell peppers, and I sneak the white part of the green onion in there. (Save the tips of the green onion for later.)  Add the Chorizo and brown. 

Slice up the green onions.  Add all but a handful to the shredded Mexican blend cheese, salt and pepper.  Toss to combine.

Begin the layering.  1/3 of the meat mixture, then:

Slice up 1 corn tortilla into tons of tiny triangles.  Layer this over the meat mixture.

Sprinkle on 1/3 of the cheese mixture.  Then, I take 1 of the slices of pepperjack cheese, break it up, and sprinkle it all over the layer.  Use the pepper jack on layers 1 and 2.  Now repeat the whole thing until all the ingredients are used up (hopefully ending up on the cheese layer!)

Pour the egg/milk mixture over top.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Set in the fridge for at least 6 hours. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  Now, I put foil over top of it for the first 45 minutes and removed for the last 30 minutes.  At 1 hour 15 minutes it wasn't done, so I turned the oven up to 375 for about 15 minutes as I was hungry and impatient.  It is all bubbly and delicious when done.

I sliced into 6 wedges (that fell apart a bit), placed on top of a bed of lettuce, and topped with salsa, sour cream, and the remaining green onion slices.  My friend, Trudie, took one bite and said "FOOD" before I even had a chance to ask her the all important question of "Food or Flop".  By the time we were done eating, our noses were running, thanks to all of that red pepper... so I might strongly recommend that you add less pepper.  I know that I will next time!

Baked Wet Burritos: Michi-Mex #1

This week, I have decided to go for what I have termed "Michi-Mex".  I define it as "like Tex-Mex, but farther north, and less Mexican".  The idea of a baked wet burrito casserole sounded delicious. 

Ingredients (to make 3 very big servings of 2 burritos each... approximately 615 cal, 19 fat, 23 fiber):
3 poblano peppers or combination of mild chili peppers
1/2 red pepper
1/2 orange pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/2 vidalia onion
3/4 lb lean ground beef
1 package of taco or burrito seasoning
1 can refried beans (I use fat free and mix in about 1/4 cup of salsa to add flavor)
6 tortillas (I use high fiber)
1 small can enchilada sauce
3/4 cup shredded mexican cheese (I use the 2% milk type)
1 bag shredded lettuce
1 tomato, diced

1. Set the oven to Broil on High. Line a pan with foil. Place the chili peppers on the pan and place in the oven for about 4 minutes, or until skin is lightly blackened.  Flip and repeat. 

 2. Once the peppers are well blackened, place in a paper bag, close the bag up, and leave for about 10 to 15 minutes.  This steams the peppers and makes it easier to remove the skin.

3. Peal the outside skin off of the peppers

4. Take out all of the seeds.  Then slice. Set these aside.

5. Dice up all of the veggies.

6. Cook until onions are transparent and peppers are soft.

7. Add ground beef and seasoning

8. Cook ground beef.

9. Start making the burritos.  Put about 2 or 3 spoons of refried beans, a couple strips of poblano pepper, and 1/6th of the meat and pepper combination.  Then roll. 

10. Line up all the burritos in a 9x13 pan. Place in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes

11. I had a little refried bean left over.  I mixed that with the can of enchilada sauce and poured it all over the burritos.  I then topped with cheese and baked for about 5 minutes.

12. Serve on a bed of shredded lettuce with diced tomatoes on top.

Food or flop?  This one gets "FOOD".  It was restaurant quality ;)

PICFTICCMLF

As a little girl, I would often take a bowl and start pouring this, that, and everything into it.  These concoctions were often times horrible and other times surprisingly good.  My brother, Joel, termed these "The Beezo Bowl" and they have earned a place in the family history books.  

Years have gone by and I have continued with my odd creations.  Friends have rallied in support of my idea for a food blog where I can share my culinary escapades, from Sugar Free Sugar Cookies to Shepherd's Pie.  So, without further adieu, I proudly introduce my first "Food or Flop":





Pie Inside Cake, Frosted, Topped with Ice Cream, Covered in Meringue, Lit on Fire

The idea for this stemmed from my friend telling me about a pie baked inside of a cake.  I decided to take that idea to the extreme and turn it in to baked Alaska.

Ingredients:
1 box of ice cream
1 cake mix (or original cake recipe of your dreams)
Eggs (5 to 6 for meringue, + however many you need for the cake)
Water (for cake mix)
Oil (for cake mix)
Sugar (2 T to 1/4 cup for each egg white for meringue)
Can of frosting (Or make the frosting recipe of your dreams)
1 pie (frozen, or yet again, you can make it fresh)
An oven





1. Line a large bowl with plastic wrap.  Empty entire box of ice cream into bowl and flatten.  Top with more plastic wrap and freeze for several hours.

 2. Open up the pie.  Mine was a pre-cooked apple pie with a crumb topping.

 3.  This is my cake mix and frosting.  I like fun-fetti.  I also like rainbow chip.  This is a fantastic culinary combination.

 4. I was having fun with pictures.  For my cake mix, you need 3 eggs, 1 cup water, and 1/3 cup oil.

 5. Mix

 6.  This got a little tricky.  My pie was almost too big for my cake pan.  I flipped the pie upside down on a cutting board and used a very sharp knife to cut off just the tip of the crust. 

 7. Spray your cake pan.  Put a small amount of cake batter in the bottom of one of them.

 8. Put the pie in there... I chose upside-down.  That may or may not have been the right decision to make.  After I put the pie in, I topped the pie with more cake batter. 

 9.  Here is my niece, ready to put the pie in the oven.  We opted to put it on a cookie sheet... as we had no idea what it would do. We put all of the remaining cake batter in another cake pan and baked it.

 10. Come to find out, a partially frozen pie inside of cake batter takes much longer.  I believe we were supposed to cook the cake on 350F for 32 minutes.  The cake (minus the pie) was done in that time.  The cake (plus the pie) decided to take much longer.  I turned it down to 320 and cooked for another 20 minutes.  It still wasn't done.  So, I turned off the oven and let it sit in there for an hour.  Still, it didn't finish cooking.  I turned it to 280 and cooked it for 20 minutes.  I finally gave up and decided that a faintly soggy cake wasn't the end of the world, and used it as is.

 11.  I had to trim the cake with a pie in it a bit, as it had oozed.  After cooling, I frosted the cake.  I might have snuck a little frosting for myself, but who will ever know?

 12.  Now for making the meringue.  I used 6 egg whites.  I probably could have gotten away with 5.  For the 6 egg whites, I used 1 cup sugar.  For those who have never made a meringue, it is best to start out just beating the egg whites.  Once they come to soft peaks, start slowly adding the sugar.  For every egg, use between 2 T and 1/4 cup of white granulated sugar. You know that you have beaten the sugar in well enough, if you rub it between your fingers and your don't feel the sugar.

 13. Now, although this picture is upside-down, the general idea of it is that it is time for the ice cream to meet the cake.

 They have now officially met. I think that they like each other.

 14. Now the meringue joins the party.  Slather it all over the cake, covered every inch of deliciousness.

 15.  I have seen on TV when someone makes a baked Alaska and they use liquor to light it all on fire.  I sent my brother in law off to the store to find something flammable.  We thought that 151 would do the job.  But, as you can see from the picture, it wasn't quite as exciting as we expected.

 So, we broiled on Hi for about 4 minutes.  We kept the door open so that the whole thing wouldn't go up in flames (just in case the 151 decided to live up to it's name).  Don't worry about the ice cream melting too fast.  The meringue acts as an insulator.

 The moment we have all been waiting for!  Picfticcmlf is complete!!!! Let me just say that all you need is a small slice, and you still will end up with a sugar buzz. 

 In answer to the all important question: Food or Flop?  I would say (drum roll please.........) FOOD!