Citrusy Bean Salad

         A few weeks ago, my mom's work had a potluck, so we decided that something light and healthy would be good to bring in because many potlucks are centered around heavy, carb loaded dishes.  She mentioned her bean salad, so I decided to elevate it with a citrus dressing and lots of veggies.  Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and did not take pictures along the way, and then had a phone problem which resulted in my few pictures being deleted, so this is a recipe with no picture tutorials, sorry for the inconvenience.

Citrusy Bean Salad:

  Ingredients:

• 2 cans black beans
• 1 can chick peas
• 1 can red beans
• 2 bell pepper (I used 1 red and 1 orange for color)
• 2 carrots 
• 3 stalks of celery
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon habanero olive oil (could substitute with 1 teaspoon chili powder)
• 2 teaspoons paprika 
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon ginger extract
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups sun dried tomatoes

  Instructions:

1. Strain and rinse all of the beans and place in a large bowl.
2. Chop celery, peppers, and carrots into small pieces (about the size of the beans) and add to the bowl. Roughly chop the cilantro and add it to bowl as well, saving some for garnishing. 
3. In a small measuring cup or bowl, stir both olive oils, lemon juice, and paprika together with a fork.  Add mustard to act as an emulsifier (something to combine the oil and lemon juice and prevent separation) and combine with a fork. 
4. Add ginger, balsamic, salt, and pepper to the dressing and pour it over the beans and veggies.
5. Toss to combine, add the dried tomatoes, and garnish with saved cilantro, enjoy!

Spiced Squash Soup

         It has been a long time since I posted for multiple reasons, mostly school has become crazy so I haven't had a lot of time to type up everything I make or take pictures, but also because my moms friend hired me to cater a party for her of about 20 people. It was extremely successful and so opened a new door for me. The mom of the lady who hosted the party asked if I would be willing to make her some individual serving frozen meals.  Of course I was super excited and got started right away, I made six meals, each with a vegetable, protein, and starch.  I experimented with things that I could just under cook and have them still be food safe so that when they were defrosted and microwaved, they wouldn't be overcooked. A week ago she asked for more meals, so I made seven.
         One thing I found that worked really well to be re heated was soup, and with fall starting, I decided to use fall veggies and flavors.  This soup is one of the meals I came up with, a wonderfully sweet but healthy creamy squash soup that is super easy to make.  Because it is made in a crockpot then pureed, I was able to just put all the veggies and broth in, then leave it all day while making the other six meals.

Spiced Squash Soup:

  Ingredients:

• 1 kabocha squash, peeled and cut into one inch cubes (butternut squash works too)
• 4 carrots
• 1/2 onion
• 1 apple
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice

  Instructions:

1. Roughly cut the onion into large chunks, the carrots into 1 inch pieces, and the apple into one inch cubes after peeing and coring it.  Place them and the squash into your crockpot and turn it on to high:
   
2. Pour chicken broth into a microwave safe pitcher or pan and heat until just simmering, then pour the broth over the veggies and cover the crock pot.  Cook on high for 5-6 hours, until the squash is soft when poked with a fork:
   
3. Once cooked, ladle 1/3 of the mixture into blender and liquefy, then strain through a fine mesh strainer.  Do the same with the rest of the veggies in two more batches:
   
4. Stir in honey and spices and enjoy:
   

Refreshing Blueberry Raspberry Mousse

         For my grandpas birthday a few months ago we went to a local bar and restaurant called Urge.  After an amazing meal, we ordered a chocolate raspberry mousse cake that had chocolate and raspberry mousse layered with fudgey ganache and chocolate cake.  Yesterday I decided to start with the mousse part of it for an end of school party and eventually create the cake after practice making mousse:

Refreshing Blueberry Raspberry Mousse:

  Ingredients:

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream 
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar 
• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries 
• 1 packet unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup fresh raspberries

  Instructions:

1. Place whipping cream in a mixer or bowl with hand held mixer and whip cream, starting on a low speed, slowly working up, then add powdered sugar.  Don't over whip or cream will become butter, stop when whipped cream becomes soft peaks:
   
2. Meanwhile, heat blueberries and raspberries in a bowl in microwave or on stove top until juice begins to collect in the bottom, remove and place in blender:
   
3. Blend until smooth:
   
4. Strain berries into a bowl and mix with gelatin, let sit for 20 minutes:
   
5. Carefully fold fruit puree into whipped cream using a rubber spatula, adding only a couple spoon fulls at a time, making sure not to deflate the whipped cream:
   
6. Continue adding puree until completely combined:
   
7. Spoon into small cups or serving container of choice and let chill for at least 30 minutes.
8. Top with fresh raspberries and enjoy:
   

          

Spiced Apple Blueberry Pie

         My moms all time favorite store bought desert is this mixed berry tart that she will finish in less than 24 hours.  Naturally, the next time I was making a pie, I tried to recreate it.  Instead of a traditional thick crust like in a tart, I made a pie crust, but substituted half of the flour for ground almonds.  I also added all spice and cinnamon to the blueberry filling as well as some lemon juice to balance out the sweetness (these ideas found at: www.simplyrecipes.com). I was trying to figure out how to make fruit pies less runny, when I thought about apples.  Because of the pectin in apples, I figured it should help to thicken the syrup from the blueberries.  Sure enough, it not only thickened the filling, but added a thin, soft layer at the bottom that absorbed blueberry flavor, mostly adding texture:

Spiced Blueberry Apple Pie:

  Ingredients:

    Crust:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup very cold butter
• 4-5 tablespoons ice water

    Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups frozen blueberries (defrosted and juice mostly poured off)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 apples

  Instructions:

1. In a food processor, combine flour, almonds, sugar, and salt 
2. Slowly pulse in the cold butter until pea sized lumps form, then add water slowly until dough becomes cornmeal textured, then add one more tablespoon:
   
3. Remove dough and divide into two pieces, kneading each one minimally only until it sticks together:
   
4. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and place in fridge wile preparing filling: 
   
5. For filling, mix blueberries with sugar, flour, cinnamon, all spice, and lemon juice:
   
6. Peel and slice apples and set aside
7. Remove crust and roll it our on a lightly floured surface, then place in a lightly greased pie pan
8. Line bottom with overlapping apple slices:
   
9. Pour blueberry filling over apples and put small pieces of the 2 tablespoons of butter over the filling:
   
10. Roll out the other piece of pie dough and lay the dough on top, then roll edges under
11. Cut four slits in the center and place in fridge while oven preheats to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
12. Bake for 20 minutes, then bring temperature down to 350, for another 30-35 minutes, until crust is golden brown:
    
13. Remove and let cool completely before slicing and enjoying

       

         

Nutella Mocha Iced Coffee

       My mom recently got a NutriBullet blender and is now obsessed with green or, realistically, brown "super" food smoothies.  I must say, I am impressed with how it blends, but I decided to use it to my advantage by using things like coffee and all natural organic "almond cocoa spread" (nutella) in it.  I adapted a nutella iced coffee recipe off of pinterest, and came up with:

Nutella Mocha Iced Coffee:
  Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk (I used 2%)
• 2 tablespoons nutella (or almond cocoa spread)
• 2 tablespoons hazelnut flavored syrup
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee
• 1 table spoon sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
• 6-8 ice cubes

  Instructions: 

1. Place all ingredients (including ice) in the blender, or in our case, the NutriBullet cup:
   
2. Blend for 45 second to a minute until smooth and frothy:
   
3. Pour over ice:
   
4. Enjoy!
   

                    

Fresh Oregano Lemon Salad Dressing

         This recipe uses mustard as an easy emulsifier to help hold the oil and lemon/vinegar together.  I used a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar base and added oregano and lemon to make it fresh and summery.  I put this dressing on a salad of tomato and baby greens but it could be used on any salad or to marinate chicken, though I would add sugar or honey as well as more salt to make it a quick marinade.

Fresh Oregano Lemon Salad Dressing:

  Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• juice from two lemons
• 1 tablespoon whole grain or dijon mustard (whatever you have on hand)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon oregano 
• 1 clove crushed garlic (optional)

  Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, both vinegars, sesame oil, lemon juice, and mustard until no spots of mustard remain:
   
2. Add all of the seasonings adjusting to taste, enjoy!

Sweet Corn and Pepper Risotto with Chicken Skewers

       For Christmas, my aunt, a vegetarian, wanted a vegetarian dish to have instead of turkey.  That was the task I was given that day.  We decided on risotto even though I had never made made it before, but it turned out amazing!  Today it was 80 degrees out (yes, it's January) so while walking through the grocery I was drawn to summery things.  Things like sweet corn, bell peppers, and eggplant and what better way to combine them than in:

Sweet Corn and Pepper Risotto with Chicken Skewers:

6 servings

  Ingredients:

• 12 ounces dry arborio rice
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 8 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 medium eggplant
• one jar canned bell peppers
• 1 bag frozen sweet corn
• 4 tablespoons half and half or cream
• 4 chicken breasts, cubed
• salt and pepper

  Instructions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Once melted add rice and stir until each grain is completely coated.  This is important so that the risotto doesn't clump together.
2. Heat the broth until simmering in a separate sauce pan and add two ladles of it to the rice, stirring the rice constantly:
   
3. When all of the liquid is absorbed, add another ladle of broth, stirring constantly.  Repeat until all broth is used; the rice should now have the consistency of risotto:
   
4. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in another saute pan and peel and cube the eggplant.  Add the eggplant and cook for about 10 minutes, remove and place in a bowl:
   
5. Dice and saute the onion in the same pan you used for the eggplant and crush the garlic, remove and set aside in a small bowl:
   
6. Microwave corn just until warn and dice the bell peppers.
7. Place the chicken cubes on skewers:
   
8. Stir peppers, corn, onions and garlic, and eggplant into risotto
9. Salt, pepper, and place the skewers on a baking sheet in the oven at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes; until the chicken has cooked through:
   
10. Remove from oven and place over a bowl of risotto, enjoy!
    
    
    

Fun Fact: Pareidolia is the ability to see faces in random places.  My moms friend takes pictures of pareidolia so now we compete, I have found faces in the back of picture frames, electric outlets, coffee pots, and tonight (unintentionally) in my risotto: