Chocolate Dream

This can be put into a chocolate crust but I like desserts better than pie so I  made this dessert to delight in, every spoonful.

Chocolate Dream

Ingredients:

1    cup semisweet chocolate chips                                                                                              
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon hot water
3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa

Method:

When you remove, the almost melted chocolate, stir until it is smooth.  Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in a the microwave or on the stove.

If it needs additional microwave time, put it back for only 5-10 seconds.  

Stir again.  Continue until smooth. 

Combine coffee granules and water in medium bowl. 

Add sour cream, granulated sugar and vanilla extract; stir until sugar is dissolved. 

Stir in melted chocolate until smooth.
Beat cream, powdered sugar and cocoa in small mixer bowl until stiff peaks form.Gently mix this into other chocolate mixture.Refrigerate or freeze, depending on your preference.  It is wonderful frozen as it melts in your mouth.  It is creamy when it is refrigerated.  

This is linked to What’s Cooking Wednesday                    Tastetastic Thursday         Full Plate Thursday      Something Swanky

Wordless Wednesday – Well Almost

Rice Salad for a Change

There are certain salads, we fall back on, a tossed salad, potato salad, macaroni salad and cole slaw.  Nowadays though, salads have become exciting with the addition of mango and avocado and the hot peppers.  The look of salad is new but sometimes, we want that traditional potato or macaroni salad.  What happened to rice salad?

We visit friends, go to organizational dinners and weddings and I don’t remember seeing rice salads, exciting or plain.   I am back to making rice salads.  This one is not exciting but it serves its purpose.  It has those good vegetables in it.  I would put more in, next time.  It would go well with a spicy dish.

Rice Salad For a Change

Ingredients:

• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, minced
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 1/2 cup craisins
• 1 small carrot, grated or minced
• 1/8 cup seasoned rice vinegar (I used garlic flavor)
• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano

Preparation:

Toss prepared vegetables together in a  bowl.

In a small bowl with the vinegar, drizzle olive oil while whisking, to emulsify the liquids.

Add to vegetables; cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Add cooked, cooled rice; add salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate until serving time. Serves 4.

This is linked to Summer Salad Sundays      Foodie Friday

Creamy Lemon Pasta with Vegetables

As long as it has veggies…………pasta is not fattening………..or so I tell myself.

1 pound thin spaghetti (gluten-free)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder1 cup low-fat sour cream
plenty of Parmesan                                                                                                                                salt to tastechopped parsley

1 zucchini, diced

grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced

1 medium onion, diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta as directed on package.

Put olive oil in skillet.  Add zucchini, onions and tomatoes.  You may need more than one batch.

Add lemon juice to pan and cook for a few minutes.

Add sour cream and mix it through.

Place drained and rinsed pasta in a baking dish.

Pour over it the vegetables and sour cream and mix.

Bake covered for 15 minutes.

Remove covering and bake for additional 7 to 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with Parmesan cheese.

Blueberry Crumble

I asked my husband to bring home blueberries from Costco, days ago.  As each day went by, I thought of all those blueberries and what I was going to do with them but nothing happened.  I am rational and did not want to lose these beauties so I decided to make a Crumble.  Crumbles are basically the same and this one is no different.  They are usually good and this one is no different.

Blueberry Crumble 

I found the recipe on delish.com and made a few changes but basically this is it.

English: A pack of blueberries from a organic farm co-op program. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries , or other fruit
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free flour mix
• 1 tablespoon(s) orange juice
• 1 cup Crumble  (below)

---

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
2. Toss berries with sugar, flour and juice. 
3. Place in a casserole or pie plate and cover with the delicious crumble.

Ingredients for Crumble

• ---

  1 1/2 cup(s) old-fashioned rolled oats

• 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup  brown sugar
• 1/3 cup(s) brown rice flour (your choice)
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

Directions

1. Combine oats, nuts, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir until well blended. Drizzle oil over the dry ingredients and stir until evenly moistened.  Place on top of berry mixture.

This is linked to Mop It Up Mondays              Mealtime Mondays           My Meatless Mondays       Slightly Indulgent Tuesday

Beets with Balsamic Glaze

This is from Simply Recipes.  Beets always look like gems to me.  The color and the shine say beauty.   I had a few, in the house, and I want

ed a simple recipe, very simple and Simply Recipes gave it to me.

Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze 

• 2 pounds red beets, medium sized, scrubbed clean, green tops removed
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil. Place the beets in the pan. Rub olive oil over the beets, and sprinkle with salt. Cover the beets with another sheet of aluminum foil.

Roast for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the beets and how old they are. After 1 hour, test every fifteen minutes by poking a beet with the tines of a fork. Once the fork tines go in easily, the beets are tender and cooked. Remove from the oven.

While the beets are cooling, prepare the balsamic glaze. In a small, shallow sauté pan, add the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Heat on high until the vinegar has reduced to a syrup consistency. Remove from heat.

After the beets have cooled for several minutes, but are still warm to the touch, peel off the outer skins and discard. Cut the beets into quarters or more, bite-sized pieces.

Place beets in a serving bowl. Pour balsamic glaze over the beets. Stir in grated orange zest, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with a little orange zest to serve.

Savory Avocado Cake – Power Foods

This week, our power food is the avocado.  If you have followed my adventures, you know that the artichoke was a new experience for me and asparagus was a vegetable, my hubby detested and now we go to a favorite of mine, the avocado.  I do have to tell you that hubby is not crazy about avocado but as I have been adding it more and more into dishes,  he is eating it, without making a face.  When, I made today’s recipe, I didn’t tell him about the avocado and he really liked this.

Fruits of avocado (Persea americana) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Let me assure you, I am not being sneaky when I do this.  I trust my husband enough to know that he understands when I “hide”  a food in a recipe.  If he doesn’t like it, he says so and that is the end of it.  If in the case of the last two, he really has come around a little.  When I made asparagus for a second time, he helped himself to some.  The funniest part of this is that it is the artichoke, he never wants to see again and that he did not have an aversion to.  Of course, he most likely, never has eaten one.

The avocado has monounsaturated fats which may lower the level of  LDL (bad cholesterol) and raise the good cholesterol (HDL).  High in fiber and potassium, they are easy to choose as an aid to good health.  I was surprised to find out that an avocado has more potassium than the banana.

I have never made or thought about a savory cake other than a cheesecake.  I will vouch for how good savory cheesecakes are.  So, maybe a savory cake would also be good.  If you add corn meal, yes, it works.  The best part is that my husband who doesn’t like avocado loved it.

What I liked about this is that by adding avocado, there is no need for any fats, no butter, margarine or oil.  At least, the fat in an avocado is the healthy kind

Savory Avocado Cake

11/2 cup gluten-free  flour mixture

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 egg beaters

1/4 cup Rice milk

1 whole avocado

1/4 small tomato cut into pieces

   

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl mix flour, cornmeal, sugar baking powder and salt

 Cut and seed avocado. In a food processor (I used my mini) process avocado and tomato until smooth.  My tomatoes stayed in small chunks  but my goal was smooth.

Mix eggs into the gluten-free flour mixture, one at a time. Add milk and avocado. Mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated

 Grease 2 loaf pans or 6 mini cakes or mini bundts or (I think – a regular sized bundt pan)

Bake the minis  for 25 minutes or until the tops start to turn golden brown.  Bake the loaves for 35 – 40 minutes.  

This is our group.  Stop by their blogs and see what they did with the mighty avocado.  You might want to look through their blogs.  They are new to me and I am finding a lot of value in each of them.

Alyce - More Time at the Table
Ansh - Spice Roots,
Casey - Bookcase Foodie  – Me

Jeanette -Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Jill - Saucy Cooks
Martha - Simple-Nourished-Living
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits,
Sarah - Everything in the Kitchen Sink

This is linked to

Mix it Up Monday              Inspire me Monday                    My Meatless Mondays           Jam’s Corner

Italian Cauliflower Bake

I came across a recipe for an Italian Zucchini Bake and planned to make it for dinner with a main course salad.  Off I went to the kitchen and pulled out all of the ingredients and set them, on the counter.  I, then went to get out the zucchini, but the cupboard was bare.  No zucchini.  What is a woman to do?  

Substitute, of course……  Now, what to substitute?  What is like zucchini?  Nothing came to mind.  I thought onions and I knew, I would love it but I would probably  be the only one.  I jumped to tomatoes and I do want to try it but it was too far from zucchini.  Then, I noted the fresh cauliflower just sitting there, crowding the shelf and I knew, this was it.  My Zucchini Bake became an Italian Cauliflower Bake and I even used pizza cheese to keep to the theme.

The recipe came from  Jam’s Corner, a brand new blog to me and one, I want to visit often.  There is something about the spirit of the blog that speaks to me.  I bet, you would like it too.

Italian Cauliflower Bake

2 cups chopped cauliflower

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves  garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup  grated Parmesan

1/8 cup  chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup  shredded  Pizza Jack cheese

2 tablespoons cream cheese

 Method:

1. Saute garlic, onion and cauliflower in olive oil until tender
2. Meanwhile, chop the basil and parsley.
3. When the cauliflower mixture is done, remove from the heat.
4. Whisk the egg, basil, parsley, tarragon, Parmesan cheese and salt together in a large mixing bowl. After mixing well, add the cauliflower mixture, cream cheese and the Pizza Jack cheese. Mix well.
5. Add the mixture to a greased 1 quart baking dish  and bake at 350 for 25  minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Let it cool slightly.  Cut into wedges and enjoy.

Cauliflower Tabbouleh

The hostess of our picnic is the amazing Louise from Months of Edible Creations.  If you have not been to her site, you honestly must get over there.  It is unique and fascinating and lots of fun.  Just click here.

Join us on an annual picnic.  Each participant has a letter from A-Z and she cooks something for the picnic starting with her letter.  I chose the letter C.  C  is probably the best letter.  You have chocolate, candy, cookies, cakes, crab, carrots, cheese, ……you see what I am saying.  What do you think I chose?  CAULIFLOWER.  

I do understand you might be happier if I had brought dessert like a caramel cake or a cheese cake.  I hope you will like my cauliflower instead.  I made a cauliflower tabbouleh.

“This is a Tabbouleh (Arabic: تبولة‎ tabūlah; also tabouleh or tab(b)ouli) is a Levantine Arab salad traditionally made of bulgur, tomato,and finely chopped parsley and mint, often including onion and garlic, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.^] Traditionally served as part of a mezze in the Arab world, it was adopted by Cypriots, variations of it are made by Turks and Armenians, and it has become a popular ethnic food in the United States.”  Wikipedia

My first problem was — how to spell tabbouleh.  Fortunately, I found several ways so if I make a mistake, just assume, I did in purposely.  This reminds me of a girl who had great difficult spelling.  One day, she spelled the same word, in a piece of writing, 4 different ways.  I decided to discuss it with  her.  I pointed out her four different spellings.  She happily smiled and told me, “I figured if I spell it in different ways, at least one of them would be right.”  It didn’t work for her.  Not one of the words was correct.  This girl was extremely bright  and I am sharing this to disprove any thinking that weak spellers are poor students.  This woman is now a teacher and doing beautifully.

I love raw cauliflower.  It almost seems wrong to cook it.  Take a crisp bite and it is yummy.  This tabbouleh is filled with this goodness.  On our picnic, be careful not to let the little pieces fall on the ground.

Cauliflower Tabbouleh adapted from Eating Bird Food, a brand new blog to me and one, I am happy to have found.  If you have a moment, stop over and introduce yourself.

• 1 medium head white cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 20 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper, or to taste

1. Cut the cauliflower to remove the stem and the chop into pieces small enough to fit into your food processor.
2. Place the cauliflower, parsley, onion and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until the cauliflower pieces are the size of a grain (like bulgur). Place the mixture in a large bowl.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to mix. Serve chilled or room temperature. Store covered in the fridge for up to one week.

I’m going on a picnic and we are bringing:

A - Artichokes Steamed and Dressed with Mayonnaise
B - Baked Beans
C - Cauliflower Tabbouleh

his is linked to Hearth and Soul Hop     Slightly Indulgent Tuesday      Fat Tuesday    Tuesday Talent Show at Chef in Training       Naptime Creations Tasty Tuesday Link Party       Allergy Free Wednesdays         Gluten Free Wednesdays       Real Food Wednesdays        Cast Party Wednesdays    This Chick Cooks     Tastetastic Thursday     Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff    Pennywise Platter Thursday    Frugal food thursdays      Tastetastic Thursday (A little nosh),       Full Plate Thursday

Brown Sugar Chewies

I am a fan of brown sugar so when I came across this recipe, I knew, I had to make it. It was a smart choice.  Although, I don’t like Paula’s use of butter, I find I can cut it down and the recipe works just fine.

Brown Sugar Chewies  adapted from Paula Deen                       9 servings

Ingredients

 1/4 cup margarine

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract1/4 cup chopped pecans

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil cooking spray.

In the microwave or on the stove, melt the margarine.

Turn off the heat, add the brown sugar and stir until smooth.

Stir in the egg.

Stir together the flour and baking powder and stir into the brown sugar mixture.

Stir in the vanilla and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

When cool, dust the top with a sifting of confectioners’ sugar.