Blueberry and Peach Clafoutis

I can't believe I haven't already posted on this dessert.  It is definitely in my top ten.  Over the years, I've tried many different recipes for clafoutis and this one is a variation of Julia Child's.  I think I like it the best.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

pinch salt

1/2 cup flour

4 peaches

approx a cup of blueberries

1/3 cup white sugar

icing sugar

This is such an easy recipe...exactly the kind I like.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your deep dish pie plate (I use an oil baking spray).  In a blender, mix the first 6 ingredients until very smooth.  You can strain the batter if you haven't removed the white stringy bits from the eggs or if you have any lumps.  Pour a thin layer onto the bottom of your pie plate and place in the oven to set.  Peel and section your peaches.  I used frozen blueberries but I usually use fresh ones.  Take out the pie plate and arrange your fruit.  Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of sugar.  

Pour in the rest of the batter and bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden and puffed up.

Let it cool and then sprinkle with icing sugar.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy,

Julie

Pork Tenderloin with Wild Blueberry Sauce

Wow, it's sure been a long time since I posted here.  I have been eating but not very well.  I also haven't been trying out new recipes or bothering to photograph anything.  That better change as we get into swimsuit season ;)...

Tonight I made Pork Tenderloin with Wild Blueberry Sauce...

Ingredients

pork tenderloin

dried thyme

salt and pepper

1 tsp oil

1/4 cup red wine

Blueberry Sauce

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup wild blueberries (I used frozen)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp cornstarch

water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Rub pork tenderloin with salt, pepper and dried thyme.  Heat oil in an oven proof pan and brown tenderloin.  Deglaze pan with red wine and roast in oven for 30 minutes. Let meat rest while you make the sauce.

Turn heat up to med-high.  Add red wine, blueberries, sugar and lemon zest and bring to a boil.  Mix cornstarch with a little cold water and stir into hot pan.  As soon as sauce thickens, spoon over slices of pork and serve.  I roasted fingerling potatoes, garlic and carrots in the oven while the pork was cooking to make a simple supper.

Julie

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I was using up an over ripe banana today...

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)

1/2 cup buttermilk (you can substitute sour cream)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a loaf pan with non-stick spray.

Beat butter and sugar together until creamed.

Beat in eggs, banana and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips.  Fold in flour, baking soda and salt.

Note - I ran out of A-P flour and substituted 1 C pastry flour and 1/2 C wholewheat flour

Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the top comes out clean.

Veggie Delight Croissant

This is one of my favourite summer sandwiches even though it is February.  You really need cream cheese and alfalfa sprouts but you can use other veggies - like tomato, cucumber, spinach, sweet onion.

Tonight I baked up some fresh croissants (I buy mine at Almost Perfect.  They need at least 8 hours to thaw and rise.)

Then I slathered on cream cheese, thinly sliced cucumber and tomato and topped it all with sprouts.

Yum yum.

Julie

Weight Loss 2012

I haven't posted in a while but I have still been cooking.  The pressures of the Christmas season have gotten in the way but I promise I will start posting again.  I need to start cooking healthy food again.  There was too much fat food indulgence this Christmas.  I started last year trying to get healthier by planning menus and it worked.  I hate to admit it but I started the year weighing 236 lbs and then I went on to LOSE 37 lbs.  Still feels good to say that.  I'm really happy with what I've accomplished this year but this is only the beginning.  I have a goal to lose 50 more lbs.  Wish me luck!

 

 

Julie

Oatmeal Crispies

I am going to share my Grandma's recipe for oatmeal crispies.  This was a favourite childhood cookie for our whole family.  They have been shared with a lot of friends who enjoy eating them, maybe they'd like to make them as well and you might too!

For Christmas, I fancied it up a bit by adding a cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of Skor bits and omitted the nuts.

Ingredients

 

1 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

 

 

 

Cream the shortening and sugars.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Combine the dry ingredients and then stir into the wet ingredients.  Fold in the chocolate and toffee (or the nuts).

 

Form into one inch balls and press onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Makes 5 dozen.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Julie





Puff Pastry Pinwheels

This is a no-fuss appetizer for Christmas parties.  Only 4 ingredients - store-bought sheets of puff pastry, slices of deli ham, grated cheddar cheese and a fancy mustard.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Unroll a thawed sheet of puff pastry, and slice it in half.

Spread a nice mustard, thinly on top.  I used a grainy mustard flavoured with whiskey, but use your favourite.

Lay 3 or 4 slices of ham on each section and spread a handful of grated cheese, mostly along the middle.

Roll up the pastry, make sure when you get to the end, that you tuck the filling in and press pastry to pastry so it will seal.  Then slice into about one inch pieces and bake on parchment paper for about 20 minutes until lightly browned.  In Canada, you can buy sheets of puff pastry from President's Choice.  They come rolled in parchment and I just use those sheets to bake them on.

The roll can be made up a day ahead and wrapped up in the fridge to be baked just before your guests arrive.  They are tasty - just out of the oven or even when they are room temperature.  Enjoy.

Julie

Caprese Pasta Salad

In the interest of not wasting food, I rifled through the fridge tonight to come up with a light fresh pasta salad for dinner.  I went out to Red Lobster for lunch today with my Mom and my cousin, Dot so we wanted something lighter for dinner.  I had some girlfriends over for an Italian feast last Friday.  We had Antipasti, Caesar Salad, Lasagna, Fettucine Alfredo and Brownies for dessert.  There was some leftover bocconcini and grape tomatoes in fridge so I built my pasta salad around these.

I cooked some pasta - drained and cooled it.  Then I made the dressing, 2 Tbsp of mayo, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar and 1 tsp of dried basil, salt and pepper.  If I had fresh basil, instead I would have used a Tbsp or two cut in a chiffonade.

Add the past and stir to coat.  Then stir in mozzarella and tomatoes and serve.  It's a nice side dish or light supper.

 

Julie

Easy Peasy Homemade Jam

 In the interest of saving money as well as having delicious jam for family and friends, make your own.  If you have never done this before and you are intimidated, don't be!  It is easy peasy!

Gear you will need...

 

2 large pots (a large dutch oven for jam and a larger one for sterilizing jars)

(Hint - if you don't have a canning pot, check second hand stores or sites like Kijiji)

Canning jars

a large mouth funnel

tongs

soup ladle

wooden spoon

potato masher

 

Ingredients

 

2 bags of frozen fruit

6 1/2 cups of sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

liquid Certo

 

I made the jam pictured above for $9 (not including the cost of the "gear" as you will use it over and over.  You will only need to buy new lids for the jars each time).

 

 

Start with a couple of bags of frozen fruit.  I always to get these on sale.  These are mixed berries but I've used raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, peach, etc.  Put your clean jars into the canning pot.  Make sure the water covers them and set them on high to bring to a boil.

 

 

Pour the berries into the other pot.  Mash them (the front of the pot has been done and the back is still whole berries).  Add lemon juice and sugar.  Turn on high and stir to melt the sugar into the berries.

 

 

Bring the jam to boil and boil hard for a couple of minutes.









 

Take off the heat and pour in envelope of Certo.  Stir gently for at least 5 minutes.  This is an important step.  It helps the fruit from floating to the top of your jars and I find that I rarely have any "scum" on top to skim off.  If you are left with any foamy bits, make sure you skim them off with a spoon.

 

 

Now you are ready to bottle.  Your jars need to have boiled for at least 15 minutes.  I boil my tongs, ladle, funnel and rings for at least 5 minutes.  The lids with their rubber rings only need about 3 minutes to activate the seal.

 

 

Remove the jars with the tongs, place the funnel in each jar with the tongs, ladle jam into each jar (leave about 1/4 inch of space), set the lid on each jar with the tongs and twist on the rings until tight.  Basically you are doing everything with sterilized tongs until you twist the ring on.  You need to have everything clean so your jam doesn't spoil.  With the funnel, you will avoid getting jam on the edges of your jars.  If you do, use a clean dishcloth with very hot water to wipe off the edges.  After a few minutes, you will hear the jars start to "pop".  Once they are cool, see if the rings might need tightened again.  See - easy peasy and cheap!  Now make your own...

 

 

Julie









 







Pork Tenderloin with a Garlic & Orange Vinaigrette

Tonight's dinner was simple and delicious as well as a nice, light meal.  I started out by heating the oven to 400 degrees and browning the pork tenderloin, seasoned with just salt and pepper.  I then put it into a casserole dish and roasted it for 20 minutes.

 

 

I made dinner for 2 but one large tenderloin is enough for 4 and the vinaigrette recipe is for 4.  On each plate, I have mounded fresh arugula and some diced tomatoes from the garden.

 

 

Garlic & Orange Vinaigrette

 

1 large orange

1 clove of garlic

1 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp mustard

 

 

Zest about half of the orange, juice the entire orange, grate one clove of garlic, add 1 Tbsp of honey and 2 Tbsp of olive oil.  Whisk these together with 2 tsp of mustard to emulsify the dressing.  I used a champagne and shallot mustard from Stonewall Kitchens.  This one of my favourites.

 

 

Arrange slices of pork tenderloin over your salad and drizzle with the vinaigrette.

 

Bon Appetit,

 

Julie

Love my Mom's Lemon Meringue Pie

My Mom made the best lemon meringue pie today that I have ever tasted.  I promise that this winter, I will learn how to make pastry and then I will share this recipe with you.  She made it all from scratch and reduced the amount of sugar and eggs so I could have a piece without giving the calories too much thought.  On a side note, I have lost 30 lbs since January 1st...

Julie

Pork Chop Casserole

 

Fall is coming and it was cold and rainy today so I decided to make a quick comfort food dinner.  A couple of pork chops were marinated for the day and then roasted.

 

Marinade

 

1 lemon, rind peeled and cut into eights and squeezed

a couple of Tbsp of olive oil

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

a couple of crushed garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

 

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Peel and chop potatoes and carrots and one apple.  Sprinkle with olive oil and stir to coat.  Place pork chops and marinade on top of the veg and roast (uncovered) for one hour.  This is a tasty, extremely easy fall or winter supper.  Enjoy!

 

Julie