Microwave Steamed Asparagus

Why do you need to know how to steam asparagus?! Well, it can be messy and time consuming to do it on the stove top and you have to watch it closely with all that steam coming at you and fogging up your glasses! This way is just...well...easy! If you don't have a microwave steamer you may want to invest in one today! I LOVE MINE!!!

Quick and Easy and Healthy!

I use the tupperwave steamer.

Put 1/4 C. water in bottom bowl

Add Colander Bowl

break off woody bottom of Asparagus spears

Rough Chop Asparagus (I cut on an angle into 3rds)

Add Asparagus to the colander and sprinkle with

kosher salt to taste

Add about 1 Tablespoon of butter chopped into smaller pieces and arrange over the spears.

Put on lid and cook on High for 3 to 5 min to desired doneness!

Easy, fast and tasty! ...AND.... The extra butter melts down into the water below so you get just a taste!

No-Bake Energy Bites Recipe

This recipe also comes from Lindsay Carrick!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
• 1 cup toasted coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (mini if you have them)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or Chunky is fine)
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed (some people can taste flax and some cannot but its full of omega 3!)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Method:
Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Makes about 20-25 balls.
Ali’s Tip:
Substitution ideas can abound for just about any of these ingredients! Feel free to substitute in your favorite nut butter (almond butter, sunflower seed butter, etc.) for the peanut butter. And you could also add in some wheat germ in place of some or all of the flaxseed. I would caution, though, against substituting agave nectar for the honey, as the honey’s thickness helps hold things together.
Some other fun substitutions for the chocolate chips (or an addition to them) could include:

• chopped dried fruit (apricots, dates, raisins, etc.)
• dried berries (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
• chopped almonds, pecans, or sunflower seeds
• other chips (butterscotch, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc.)

Homemade Granola

This recipe comes from Lindsay Carrick!

This was So easy! You just mix it all in a bowl, then bake on a cookie sheet for 10-14 minutes, stirring twice. It'll be golden brown. You can add more honey and syrup to taste. Taste it halfway through the cooking and you can add some then if ya want!

3 C. Oats (old fashioned is better than quick)
1/4 C honey or more- just see if it's combined enough
1/4 C maple syrup
2 TB vegetable oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 C chopped pecans (or any choice of nut- almonds, walnuts)
1/2 C craisens
1/4 C coconut

Bake at 350 for 10- 14 min. stirring twice

Sourdough Starter and Pancakes

First, some Sourdough Lessons I have learned!

Everything we know about Sourdough must be credited to Scott Borgia! We love you Scott!!!

Never use metal...anywhere near it! NO metal bowls, spoons, whisks etc!

DO use Unbleached flour ( I don't know why...)

DO use your starter to make something at least once a month.

First you need a starter. Here is the recipe I used:

In a large plastic bowl with a wooden spoon stir together:

2 C. Unbleached flour

1 t. salt

3 T. sugar

1 T. dry yeast

Then add 2 C. Lukewarm water.

Stir till the mixture resembles a smooth paste.

Cover bowl with a towel and set in a warm place (85 deg ish) to sour.

Stir mixture several times a day.

In 2 to 3 days your starter will be ready to move to the refrigerator....Storage is tricky!

I keep mine (I keep a scant 2 cups) in a tupperware shaker thing with the lid off.

You can keep it in anything non-metal but you MUST have a hole in the lid or something so that it can breath!

OK, Now on to using the stuff....

I take out my HUGE tupperware bowl and pour all but about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of the starter into the bowl. (I should probably stir it first, but mostly I don't!)

Then I feed my starter by adding one cup of Unbleached flour to the remaining bit in the shaker and 1 C. or so of lukewarm water and stir with a wooden spoon. I don't bother to get all the lumps out just most of them. The consistency should be close to what you started with.

Set the new starter aside to sour overnight.

Back to the bowl.....I add 4-5 C. of Unbleached Flour

Enough lukewarm water to make it look like a nice waffle batter.

Cover with a cloth and set in a warm place. (Usually I put it and the starter in the oven with just the light on)

Let them sit overnight.

In the morning put the starter in the fridge

To the bowl add:

3 eggs

1/2 C. Milk (more if it's too thick)

3 T. sugar

2 t. Salt

2 t. baking soda

Mix well it should now be the consistency of pancake batter. (add a little milk to get it there if necessary)

Let this sit back in the oven with the towel on it for a good 15-20 min.

Take it out and smell the deliciousness! It should be bubbly!

If you were watching the timer you would have been so anxious to eat that you would have been warming up your griddle pan the last 5 min and now be ready to cook!

You want to cook this on a Med. to Med. High heat. They cook pretty fast. You should plan to be standing and cooking for a while! I use Pam spray for every group, but if you have a good seasoned griddle you may not need to. When the pancakes bubble all over on the first side flip them to the next and watch carefully.

You will really need to adjust temp and cooking time based on your location and altitude and your family's tastes.

We serve these with butter, and powdered sugar shakers and we could probably use more of those!

Then we roll them up and Eat them! The only utensils on the table are Knives to spread the butter, no forks needed here!

I love to make a few at the end that are larger and thin like a crepe and butter/sugar and then add bananas and strawberries! Or you can add small blueberries right in the batter, or mini chocolate chips! The varieties are endless!!!

I will try to post pictures when we make these next! (DONE!)

Broken Glass

YES, thats right.....Broken Glass....and Yes! it's edible!

It's not actually glass....it's jello but when you add all the colors together with the filling it looks like it could be!

Make a graham Cracker crust and put it in a springform pan reserving about 2 T. to sprinkle on top.

1pkg each of (Small Jello packets)

Lime Jello,

Lemon Jello

Strawberry Jello

(we also use Orange Jello and you can get any color you would like to add also)

Dissolve each of these in separate trays with 1.5 cups of boiling water.

Put in the fridge to Set firm.

Mix 1 T. plain Gelatin with 1/2 C. cold water. Set Aside to soften. 

Whip 1 Pt. whipping cream with 2 T. sugar (I use Powdered sugar to avoid graininess)

add 1/4 C. hot canned pineapple juice and 1/4 c. hot water and 1 T. sugar to the plain gelatin mixture.  Mix , Cool slightly then add to whipped cream.

Cut Jello into small cubes and shapes.

Add Jello to the whipped mixture.

Put into the crust in the springform pan.

Sprinkle reserved graham cracker topping and refrigerate till ready to serve. (Chill at least an hour or two!)

NOTE: we tried this with Cool Whip recently and it worked! So those non-dairy types have something new and fun to enjoy!

OPTIONAL, this can be made in any kind of pan, just adjust your crust. If you want the broken glass to show in a clear pan/bowl just put crust on bottom and top. Would be pretty in a trifle dish!

Pad Thai

This is from a little Thai cook book I got on sale a while ago! It turned out great!



8 ounces uncooked rice noodles, 1/8 inch wide
2 T. rice vinegar
1.5 T. fish sauce
1-2 T. lemon juice
1 T. katsup
2 t. sugar
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1 T. peanut oil
1 boneless skinless chicken breast finely chopped (I used 2 and omitted the shrimp)
2 green onions, thinly sliced (one more reserved for garnish)
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 C. fresh bean sprouts
3 oz. small raw shrimp peeled and devained
3/4 C. shredded red cabbage
1 med. carrot shredded
3 T. chopped fresh cilantro
2 T. chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts. (I used lightly salted it was all I could find)
lime wedges

Directions:
Place noodles in a bowl and cover with lukewarm water; let stand for 30 min or more till soft.
During this time:
Prepare all ingredients as listed above.
Mix together:
Rice vinegar
fish sauce
katsup
lemon juice
sugar
red pepper flakes
Set aside

Mix in med. bowl:
Cabbage
Carrots
Cilantro
Peanuts
Set Aside
(NOTE: I added the juice of half a lime to this salad)

When noodles are soft drain and set aside. THEN:
Heat Oil in Wok or non stick skillet over Med-High Heat.
Add:
Chicken
Green Onions
Garlic
Cook till chicken is done
Stir in Noodles and cook 1 min
Add Bean Sprouts and shrimp cook about 3 min till shrimp is pink and opaque.
Stir in Fish sauce mixture Toss to coat evenly and cook 2 min more.
Remove to a bowl and saute Lime wedges in the pan to add some color. Add reserved green onion for garnish.

Serve with the Cabbage Salad (I preferred it all mixed together!)

Hash Brown Quiche

This recipe was posted in our Relief Society Bulletin 2 weeks ago. It sounded good, so I made it!
Now, I can't find the recipe so I had to improvise! Here is what I did.

Pre-Heat the oven to 425

Spray the bottom of your DEEP pie dish with non stick cooking spray.

Take 1/2 pkg of shredded has browns and thaw. (should be 3 cups or so) and form into a crust on bottom and up the sides of your pie dish.
Melt 1/2 C. butter and drizzle over the crust. Salt and Pepper Crust and bake for 25 min in oven!
It should have some nice brown on the sides when you remove it from the oven.

While this cooks prepare filling:

2 scallions chopped
1 small green pepper diced or (1/2 of a large one)
Some leftover ham lunch meat diced -about 1/2 Cup
1 Cup of shredded cheese (I used Cheddar and some leftover cheddar jack)
4 eggs

When your crust comes out of the oven drop the temp to 350.
Sprinkle into the crust the ham, onion and peppers
Top with 1/2 of the cheese
whip up the eggs with a fork and pour over the filling
Sprinkle on the last 1/2 Cup of cheese and bake 30 min.

YUM

I want to attempt this with spinach and fetta cheese....I will let you know how it goes!

Panini Recipes Anyone?

So, We have a Panini press/grill that is large and cumbersome but....WOW.....when we use it we always wonder why we don't use it more.
Today I made something wonderful and just so that I can remember the recipe here goes:

It starts off with a quarter of a loaf of Rosemary Asiago from "fresh and easy" (Il Fornaio makes their baked items!!!)
It's kind of more like a giant chibatta than a loaf...
I sliced one quarter in half and layed it open on the bread board

Each slice got:
light mayo
heavy spread of basil pesto
1 slice of Swiss cheese
then:
on one side 1 slice of thin ham folded
a few pieces of roasted red pepper (from a jar, enough to cover the middle as it spreads)
the other side got thin sliced tomatoes then a small handful of baby spinach leaves.
Close it up and brush each outside part with olive oil!
COOK!
YUM!