Rocky Mountain Hiking with Dried Cherry Trailmix!
| May 3, 2012 | Filled under Good Food, Snack |
Ask and you shall receive… a lot of readers have been asking for healthy snack suggestions, so I decided to share my favorite trail mix recipe with you. While my little sister was visiting last year I took her up a gorgeous hike to showcase what Colorado living is all about to me – being active, outside and enjoying the blue sunny sky. It is important to remain energized during longer hikes, and in our backpacks we had some dried cherry trail mix freshly made the night before our hike. It was the best day ever. This morning I set out on that same hike, and so what a perfect day to think of good times and good snacks, too!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups baby pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 6 tablespoons pure Grade B maple syrup
- Coarse salt
- 1/2 cup dried cherries
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. (I’ve tried both methods, and prefer the silicone baking mats).
In a large bowl mix pumpkin seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds and syrup until evenly coated. Spread mixture on baking sheets in a single layer, then sprinkle with salt to taste. Bake in over for ca. 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking.
Let cool completely on pan once out of the oven, then add the dried fruit and toss in bowl to combine with the trail mix.
Store in airtight container at roomtemperature.
Source: Claire Robinson, FoodNetwork, Pumpkin Seed Dried Cherry Mix
Banana Cinnamon Waffles for 90 Day Challenge
| May 1, 2012 | Filled under Breakfast, Good Food, Good Health, Snack |
I am sitting here watching the Denver Nuggets play the LA Lakers in the playoffs and know this is going to be a while…The game is pretty tight and I know I wont be able to tear my peppers from the TV until this one is over. Go Nuggets!! So, knowing this is going to be a late night I’ve prepared the batter for breakfast already. These low cal (only 215 calories for two waffles!) , high energy Banana Cinnamon Waffles will keep me feeling energized tomorrow morning despite some inevitable lack of zzz’s tonight! If you are on the 90 Day Challenge like I am, make a few simple adjustments to make this with Vi Shape Nutritional Shake Mix. Either way these treats are 5 Star all the way.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup fat-free milk
- 3 tablespoons butter, me
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed
For a nutritional boost and a protein packed waffle, substitute Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge modifications: Substitute all-purpose flour for Vi Shape Nutritional Shake Mix, eliminate sugar and use 1/2 teaspoon salt instead of 1/4 teaspoon.
Combine the flours (and shake mix if you are using) into a large mixing bowl. For a lighter, more fluffy batter sift all the dry ingredients together before adding the wet mix.
Mix together milk, melted butter and eggs. While stirring the dry mixture with a whisk, slowly add the wet ingredients and whisk until you have a thick but smooth batter.
Fold in the already mashed banana.
Preheat your waffle iron and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/3 of a cup of batter into each section of the hot iron. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until steaming stops. Repeat process until all the batter is used up.
Serve topped with maple syrup and fruit of your choice.
Enjoy!
Source: Cooking Light Best Waffle Recipes, Banana Cinnamon Waffles
Crunchy Red Cabbage Slaw with Apples, Carrots and Pinenuts
| April 26, 2012 | Filled under Good Food, Good Health, Salads |
While showing my blog to some new friends this past weekend I was posed with the question if I was mainly a baker. What? Me? No, my sister is the baker, I am the cook. It me look back at some of my most recent posts and realized that I have mostly been sharing those special occasions meals we have made, and not so much of what we like to eat on a day-to-day basis. Time to change that! Here is a healthy lunch salad I like to make on Sunday night to enjoy throughout the wee. You can eat it as a main salad for lunch or dinner, or as a sided to salmon or chicken.
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
2 thinly sliced celery sticks
2 peeled and thinly sliced Granny Smith apples
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
Dressing:
1/4 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra light olive oil
4 to 5 pinches of kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste (I like a lot of pepper)
Using a food processors, shred cabbage and carrots. Mix with other salad ingredients and toss in a large bowl. Pour all of the dressing ingredients in small bowl, whisk until well blended and pour over the salad. Keep covered in the fridge for three to four days. This is one of our go to meals, I hope it will become one of yours too!
Source: Adapted from BBC Good Food, Dagmar’s Detox Salad
Mango Green Tea Smoothie for 90 Day Challenge!
| April 24, 2012 | Filled under Breakfast, Good Food, Good Health, Snack |
On January 1, 2012 I sat down to write yet another list of resolutions for the Year. After thinking long and hard I realized that one word kept coming to mind as if spoken out loud to me; Transformation. So I tossed my pen and paper and decided, without any real plan or exact goal in mind, that 2012 was going to be a year of Transformation in whichever shape or form it would present itself to me. Since then, the word has kept appearing. My new love – yoga – is being practiced at lovely Transformation – Yoga.Fitness.Massage. Stories of others transformation constantly make their way onto may radar, and most recently I came across Body By Vi who promises to Transform lives by participating in their cleverly designed 90 Day Challenge. With Transformation being the “theme word” for 2012, I just had to take the challenge. Its starts now, with this energizing and refreshing Mango Green Tea smoothie!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup green tea, chilled
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 mango, peeled and sliced
- 1/8th teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 scoops Vi Shape mix
- 3 to 4 ice cubes
Steep green tea for 15 minutes, you want to yield fairly strong tea so the flavor carries thru in your smoothie. While the water is still hot, stir in honey. Let chill.
Pour honey infused green tea into a blender, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth and frothy.
Enjoy!
*Tip ~ make more tea than needed for one serving and enjoy this Mango Green Tea energy smoothie for a few days straight.
Swedish Lenten Buns {Semlor}
| February 21, 2012 | Filled under Good Food, Kid friendly, Scandinavian Food |
Which sinfully delicious Swedish pastry has the average Swede consuming an average of 5 cardamom spiced , scooped out and filled with goodness desserts per year? You guessed it.. the Lenten Bun, which is what we call a Semla or Fettisbulle in Sweden. So loved is this bun that it has its very own day dedicated to itself; Semledagen / Fettisdagen. Cafe’s and bakeries across the country are frequented by hungry Semle eaters who are eager to dig in to these almond paste filled, whipped cream topped traditional pastries. History gives good reason for indulging on this annual event. The actual date varies from year to year, and marks the last Tuesday before Lent (get it… Lenten Bun) which is a 40 day fast that precedes Easter. So it would make perfect sense to chow down, eat up, fuel the tank… right?! Word on the street is that Semlor have been enjoyed in Sweden since the mid 1500′s. So these tried and tru seasonal treats have been around for a while to say the least, and I think you should give ‘em a try.
Ingredients:
- 7 tablespoons margarine or butter
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs (divided)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 5 ounces almond paste
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- powdered sugar
Start by melting the butter, then add milk and heat to 115F. Add active dry yeast to the milk and give a good stir. Add salt, sugar, one of the eggs. In a separate bowl, mix together baking powder, cardamom and flour. For fluffy buns sift the dry mix thoroughly to make it light and airy. Mix together and knead using a stand up mixer until the dough is smooth and elastic. Be patient here, you want to knead the dough until it completely comes off the sides of the bowl and can be stretched without breaking. My dough took 15 minutes this time. Leave dough in bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
Turn out the risen dough onto a slightly floured surface and knead again, but using your hands this time, until the dough is once again smooth and elastic. Form into 15 round balls, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Preheat oven to 450F.
Cover and let rise until doubled in size, for about one hour. Beat the remaining egg then brush risen buns before baking in the center oven rack for 8 to 10 minutes.
Let buns cool completely.
Use a serrated knife to cup the tops of each bun, then remove some of the crumbs in the middle of the bun. This is where your almond paste filling is going! Use roughly one tablespoon of almond paste for each Semla.
Whip cream then using a piping bag, pipe onto the bun then place the cut off top right onto the whipped cream. Sift powdered sugar on top.
Adapted from: Sju Sorters Kakor – Swedish Cakes and Cookies, ICA boforlag 2005
Wild Rice and Rainbow Chard Soup with Shredded Chicken
| February 5, 2012 | Filled under Burwell General Store Recipe Swap, Good Food, Kid friendly, Soup |
Even though this has been an unusually mild winter in Colorado, this past week held a three-day hut trip with 8 amazing women to the McNamara hut above Aspen, CO as well as three hours of serving hot chili on a cold winter day at the Sunlight Mountain 3rd Annual Chili Cook Off. In other words – yours truly is still a little cold! What better way to warm up than a hearty winter soup? This brings me to the topic of today’s post – the monthly Burwell General Store Recipe Swap. Today we are all revamping an old recipe for Rice Dressing, which for me turned into a Wild Rice and Rainbow Chard Soup with Shredded Chicken. This soup is quick, easy and truly heart warming. It’s also what is for lunch this week 
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Ingredients:
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- onion powder
- salt
- olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, divided
- 1 package Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild rice, fast cook recipe
- 4 slices turkey bacon
- 1 leek, white parts only thinly sliced
- 2 cups baby bella mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, sliced
- 1 bunch rainbow chard, chopped
- 1 can white kidney beans
- 6 cups beef broth
Preheat oven to 375F. Sprinkle chicken breast on both sides with salt and onion powder, and press one garlic clove on each breast. Bake in oven until cooked thru, roughly 25 minutes. Boil wild rice according to instructions on package. Saute bacon slices in dutch oven until crispy, remove from pan. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to pan and saute leek, mushrooms and carrots until browned, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with a few pinches of kosher salt. Press remaining four cloves of garlic to mixture and saute for one more minute. Finally add chopped chard, give a good stir, then deglaze pan by adding beef broth. Add kidney beans and bring soup to a low simmer for 15 minutes.
Be sure to visit the sites of all of my fellow recipe swappers below, and see how differently we have all interpreted this original recipe for Rice Dressing.
Zabaglione ~ A Burwell General Store Recipe Swap
| January 8, 2012 | Filled under Burwell General Store Recipe Swap, Good Food |
It’s recipe swap time again. It hasn’t failed me so far… I feel a surge on energy and excitemen when the original recipe, and my mind starts raising on what I can create this time. This time was the same, but with a little bit different nature. This time I got a bit scared – a Zabaglione? What in the heck is that??!! Thank goodness for Google. And YouTube videos. Turns out that Zabaglione is a custard, usually made by egg yolks and a sweet dessert wine such as Marsala. Because I’ve never made anything like this before, I decided to not stray too far from the original recipe this time, and instead use this as a great opportunity for learning something new. The end result was balsamic reduced strawberries layered with smooth silky Zabaglione, topped with a fresh strawberry-kiwi salad. The crisp fresh fruit help cut thru the rich creaminess of the custard, and makes for a great little dessert that is easy to whip up while dinner guests are socializing. Or you could do what I did and enlist a guest or three to take turns whipping the mixture.
Ingredients:
Balsamic Reduction
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons plus 4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cups hulled and sliced strawberries
1 kiwi, peeled and diced
Zabaglione
4 egg yolks
1 oz. Marsala
1/2 oz. balsamic reduction
4 teaspoons turbinado sugar
Strawberry – Kiwi Salad
1 kiwi
4 strawberries
Start by making the balsamic reduction for your strawberries. Mix balsamic vinegar, sugar and lemon juice in small sauce pan over medium high heat and simmer until 1/4 cup balsamic reduction remains. Let cool completely in refrigerator, then pour 1 1/2 oz. of the reduction over hulled and sliced strawberries. Let sit for 30 minutes.
Dice kiwi and strawberries, set aside.
In glass bowl mix all of the ingredients for the Zabaglione, then place over pot of steaming water on stove top. Whisk mixture by hand for 15 minutes, until the custard is a thick and fluffy consistency.
Using individual serving bowl, place balsamic strawberries in bottom, then fill with Zabaglione. Finish by topping the dessert with the fresh strawberry-kiwi salad. It will sink down into the custard – that’s OK – keep spooning as much fruit salad in as you wish! This makes for two individual desserts.
This is the original recipe we based our creations on this month. Be sure to take a moment and check out all of my fellow swappers interpretations by clicking on the links below. This is one of my favorite things to do!
Miniature Bottles ~ Holiday Baking without Breaking the Bank
| December 18, 2011 | Filled under Good Tips |
As I was thumbing thru my old recipe books and browsing the net for ideas on holiday cookies and treats I realized that almost all of what I wanted to make had some content of alcohol. Some of which I didn’t have at home. Faced with spending well over $100.00 for liquor to add a splash here and a dash there to my cookies and chocolates I remembered the genius idea of the miniature bottle. Off to the liquor store and bought all of these bottles for $20.00! The cognac was used for my Saffron Buns and my Pear and Cognac Chocolate Balls. The Baileys is going in my Chocolate Covered Marzipan. This idea works well for wine as well – instead of buying a bottle of something you might not drink otherwise, purchase a mini bottle instead.
St. Lucia Saffron Buns {Lussekatter}
| December 13, 2011 | Filled under Good Food |
On December 13 every year the people of Sweden wake up to Sankta Lucia (St. Lucia) bringing light to the dark Scandinavian winter morning followed by a train of tarnor, also carrying lights. They sing to lighten the spirits of people on this longest of winter nights and carry with them sweet treats. Lucia dons a white gown and a crown made of lingonberry leaves and five lit candles. (Modern day Swedes smartened up and decided real candles might not be a great thing to plop on the heads of school age children and came up with a plastic alternative.)
As a member of my high school choir I dressed up every year and frequented nursing homes, city hall and of course held an assembly at school singing holiday carols to brighten peoples day.
Now it is my daughters turn to carry on tradition. There are roughly 10 Swedish children at her school and each year we get together and hold the same kind of assembly as we did when I was a kid. We are on our way to school now and will be “treating” everyone to cheerful singing. It sure brings us joy at least !
As usual there is some sort of culinary item tied into this tradition, and it does not get any better than our Swedish Saffron Buns. We call them Lussekatter, and they come in all shapes and forms but one of the more traditional versions is the one I have featured in this post.
Thank you for stopping by to learn about some Scandinavian traditions, please let me know what you think!
| St. Lucia Saffrron Buns {Lussekatter} |
- 50g (3 tablespoons) margarine or butter
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/8th teaspoon saffron
- 1 teaspoon cognac
- 2 eggs, divided
- 1 cup raisins
- Melt butter in saucepan and add milk.
- Heat to 115F, remove from heat and add dry yeast.
- Crush saffron thread in mortar then add cognac.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer add all of the ingredients except egg, milk and saffron mixture. Set mixer to slow speed and slowly add milk.
- As the dough starts to take shape speed up the mixer a few notches, add the egg and saffron mixture.
- Dough is done when it starts to release from the sides of the bow. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat over to 450F degrees.
- Working in batches, roll a piece of dough in between your hands to make a strand. Roll into shapes as pictured above.
- Place on parchment lined baking sheet and let rise, covered, for another 20 minutes.
- Put place raisins in each curl if desired and brush with egg
- Bake in the center of oven for 8 minutes or until golden brown
- Let cool under a kitchen towel
Bake Sale Sugar Wreath Cookies
| December 8, 2011 | Filled under Good Food |
Last night was the annual holiday “Bake Sale and Christmas” show at G’s school. We had such a lovely night baking and practicing her part of Winter Wonderland (her song to sing at the show) the night before the big event. I found this recipe for “Ian’s Sugar Wreaths” in my trusty ol’ friend “Swedish Cakes and Cookies” when refreshing my memory on the Gingerbread Cookies. They went really quickly at the sale, and G nailed her duet. I love the holidays and all that comes along with ‘em.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup cold margarine or butter
- 1/2 egg
Garnish:
- Candied cherries
- Sugar
Mix all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Dice butter and add to the bowl then pulse until all of the ingredients are combined. Add egg and process until the dough starts to form into a ball. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least one hour.
While you wait for the dough to chill, cut the candied cherries into little strips.
Working in batches roll the dough into little 1/2 inch balls. Place 8 balls on a parchment lined baking sheet to make up a wreath. Repeat until all of the dough is used up. Cut the candied cherry strips in between balls. Bake in the center of the oven for 10 minutes. While the wreaths are still warm dip then in sugar.
I’ve just recently learned of a thing called #cookielove blog hop, and so this post has been added to the #cookielove event!
I am Camilla Fay, lover of Good Food, Good Tips, and Good Times. Welcome to Caffay Way where I share with you my quest for all of the above. And – this is my way – so I would not stick true to nature if I did not incorporate some weekly excerpts of my gratitude journal. I do this because its fun, it feeds my soul AND it feeds my hungry stomach.