Arugula Pear Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

My good friend Adam of the Coozer Files served this unbelievably delicious salad the other night. It was so yummy, I demanded he give me the recipe to share here.

Pear & Arugula Salad (from the kitchen of Adam Coozer)

Vinaigrette:
1 tbsp champagne vinegar (apple cider vinegar should also work)
1 tbsp honey (I use clover honey)
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt & 1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper

Combine the above together, then slowly mix in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Mix well.

Salad:

Arugula
2 bartlett pears, halved, cored, then thinly sliced
Shavings of ricotta salata (salted & dried ricotta). Other cheeses could work too for a slightly different taste - goat cheese, bleu cheese, etc.

Toss everything together and make sure the vinaigrette coats everything! Don't worry if there doesn't seem to be that much vinaigrette - a little goes a long way!

New Year's Resolution: Eat Tasty, yet Healthy Food!

Hello dear readers, happy New Year! Here's a favorite of mine, Curried Pumpkin Soup. My mother found the original recipe somewhere, but I've lightened it up quite a bit, with no loss of yum. It's delicious, healthy and very comforting in the cold winter months. :)

Curried Pumpkin Soup (Serves 6)

1 cup skim milk (you can use other kinds of milk, if you want it creamier. Coconut Milk is a great option)
2 tsp curry powder (I prefer the Jamaican kind)
3 cups broth, any type (vegetable bouillon works well)
1 medium apple, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cup canned pumpkin (1 15 oz can works fine)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp olive oil (coconut oil also works)

Put the olive oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven. Saute the onion and apple in the olive oil until tender (5-7 minutes.)
Stir in the canned pumpkin and remove from heat. Blend in food processor until smooth. Return puree to Dutch oven. Add broth and milk. Whisk in seasonings. Heat gently and serve.

This is really nice paired with whole wheat biscuits.

Enjoy!

Garlic & Spinach Chicken Sauté

This is a quick, easy and healthy summer supper with minimal prep and cooking time.
Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thin and cut into 1/2" strips.

2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed

dash black pepper

dash sea salt

1 (10 oz) package spinach, washed

1/4 cup Low Fat, regular, or fat-free feta cheese, crumbled.

Directions:

Sauté the garlic & olive oil in a large skillet for a minute or so .

Add the salt and pepper.

Add the chicken strips, and sauté until no longer pink.

Add the spinach, a handful at a time, stir and cook until the spinach is wilted and bright green.

Remove from heat. Mix in crumbled feta cheese

Serve over whole wheat couscous or brown rice.

Serves 4

Valentine Cupcakes!

Well, it's a few weeks later, but these are the cupcakes I made for Valentine's Day. I used a yellow cake recipe, added a little bit of red food coloring to tint them pink, and then frosted them with chocolate icing. I then put a sweetheart candy in the center of each, and surrounded it with a circle of Valentine M & M's.

Bananas And Cream Oatmeal

This is a super healthy, warm, tasty and filling breakfast, that's super easy to do in the morning before work.
(serves 1)

1/3 cup instant oats

1/3 cup skim milk

1/3 cup water

1 tsp milled flax seed

1 banana, sliced

Sprinkling of ground cinnamon

Mix together the oats, milk, water and flax seed in a microwavable bowl. Slice in the banana, stir again, sprinkle with cinnamon, and microwave for 1-2 minutes, depending on your microwave oven. Stir again, and serve! Yum!

Cinnamon Espresso Ice Cream

Well, now that Winter is fast approaching, why not post an ice cream recipe? I assure you, if you make this for your friends, they will brag about you to strangers.

Cinnamon Espresso Ice Cream (makes 1 1/2 quarts)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 TB Instant Espresso Powder

1/2 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon (get the good stuff)

1 Cup Milk (I use lactose free milk, and then I have lactose-free ice cream! Woo!)

2 Cups Cream (again if you use heavy whipping cream= no lactose and you get lactose-free ice cream)

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract (again- live it up and get the good stuff. ALSO- you can sub with pure almond extract, and it's super extra wonderful tasty)

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the sugar, espresso powder, and cinnamon. I like to mix it up with a whisk, because I like to say "whisk." Sounds exciting, no?

Then add the 1 cup milk, and whisk together the ingredients until the sugar is completely dissolved. It'll take a little while.

After the sugar is completely dissolved, add the 2 cups cream and the vanilla extract.

Freeze in your ice cream maker for about 30 minutes. (It will be about the consistency of soft-serve at this point)

Transfer to an airtight freezer container and allow to "ripen" overnight. (AKA harden to regular ice cream consistency)

Enjoy! And don't forget that it does contain espresso, so if you eat a whole bunch of it, and then try to go to bed, there may be some difficulty...

Halloween Brain and Eyeball Cupcakes!

Hurrah for confections shaped like body parts!

I made these pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting using the recipes from Krystina Castella's EXCELLENT book, Crazy About Cupcakes, the best cupcake book I've found. The idea for the brains came from Martha Stewart Living, but the blood was all my friend Jason's idea.

The brains were pretty easy to do- I just divided the cupcake into two halves, and piped a big pile of squiggles of frosting onto each half, using a round pastry tip, until the heaps looked suitably brainy. Then I just drizzled a little red frosting on top for blood, as red cake decorating gel is rarer than hen's teeth in Brooklyn grocery stores.

The eyeballs were super easy, as well. I just frosted the cupcakes as smoothly as possible with the plain cream cheese icing. Then I piped a big dollop of blue frosting in the center of each cupcake, and inverted a dark chocolate chip into the center of the "eye" for the pupil. Then I piped red blood vessels out in squiggly lines from the center, and voila! Bloodshot eyeballs!