Tag: lemon

“Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission.” ~ Andrew Jackson

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I found another delicious salad that allows me to use my new favorite ingredient.

Quinoa.

Whats great about quinoa is that it’s very filling and pretty much takes on the flavor of the other ingredients with which it has been paired. Because of this, you can add it or serve it with most any salad or as a bed for a sauce in place of rice. It has been called the “perfect food”.

I am always finding new ways to try quinoa. I have a new recipe for a breakfast bowl that calls for it and I am dying to give it a try.

Stay tuned.

Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

(adapted from Damn Delicious)

Salad

  • 4 cups chopped kale
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/2 cup blueberry craisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
  • 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

Toss salad ingredients in large bowl, top with vinaigrette, toss again. Serve immediately.

** This can be made with any mixed green salad but I highly recommend keeping all other ingredients. **

Vinaigrette

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
  • Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
  • 1 tablespoon sugar

Whisk together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar in a small bowl.

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-abp

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“I think children are like pancakes. You sort of ruin the first one, and you get better at it the second time around.” ~ Kelly Ripa

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Hello friends!

I’m sorry it’s been a little while but it has been a busy spring – if you want to call it spring. brrrrrr.

I’m ready for it to get warm and stay warm. Mid-April and still worrying about your plants freezing. Not cool.

On another note – I’m still on my quest to find GOOD food that is GOOD for you. I have had a few misses but I’ve also found some keepers and last night we had one of those!

It still surprises me to find something that has all the flavor without all the calories.

Lemon Poppy seed Pancakes with Blueberry Compote

(adapted from Cooking Light)

  • 3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
  • 6 tablespoons sugar, divided
  • 3 teaspoons grated lemon rind, divided
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 6.6 ounces white whole-wheat flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup fat-free milk
  • 1/2 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • Cooking spray

Combine blueberries, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon rind, 1 tablespoon juice, and 1 tablespoon water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook 10 minutes or until blueberries break down, stirring frequently.

While compote cooks, combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and remaining 2 teaspoons rind in a large bowl. Using your fingers, rub rind mixture together for 15 seconds. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add flour, baking powder, and salt to rind mixture, stirring with a whisk. Combine milk and next 5 ingredients (through eggs) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk; add remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

Preheat nonstick pan to medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Spoon 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto pan. Cook 3 minutes or until edges begin to bubble and bottom is browned. Turn pancakes over; cook 3 minutes or until done. Serve with blueberry compote.

 

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If you are short on time or ingredients or just prefer plain – this is a great healthy pancake recipe without the lemon or poppy seeds. I plan on it being the pancakes my little Elizabeth grows up with.

-abp

Nutritional Information

Amount per serving (serving = 2 pancakes and ¼ cup compote)

  • Calories: 286
  • Fat: 6.4g
  • Saturated fat: 1.1g
  • Monounsaturated fat: 2.3g
  • Polyunsaturated fat: 1.9g
  • Protein: 10g
  • Carbohydrate: 46g
  • Fiber: 6g
  • Cholesterol: 64mg
  • Iron: 2mg
  • Sodium: 279mg
  • Calcium: 219mg

 

“There’s nothing more romantic than Italian food.” ~ Elisha Cuthbert

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One of our favorite dishes we had on our honeymoon trip to Italy was Saltimbocca.  Saltimbocca means “jump in your mouth” and that it does! I knew it would be a meal that I must try back at home and I finally got around to it.

Saltimbocca is a very popular Italian dish that is traditionally made with veal but can be made with chicken (which is what I had on hand).

Chicken Saltimbocca

4 (4-ounce) chicken cutlets
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 fresh sage leaves
2 ounces very thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into 8 thin strips
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Sprinkle the chicken evenly with salt. Place 3 sage leaves on each cutlet.

top with sage

Wrap 2 prosciutto slices around each cutlet, securing sage leaves in place.

wrap with prosciutto

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan, and swirl to coat. Add chicken to pan; cook for 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Combine broth, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture and the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil to pan; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook for 1 minute or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly.

Place chicken on bed of fettuccine and top with sauce.

Chicken Saltimbocca

Love, love, love this dish! It’s simple too!

abp

“When life gives you lemons, add sweet tea!” ~ unknown

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I’ve decided that I really like making cookies.

Strike #1,343,987 against my goal of losing a few pounds.

Oh well, I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

Because of this new cookie obsession, I have a feeling I will be trying out several recipes this holiday season. This week was no exception.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies (adapted from LDS Magazine)

  • ½ cups butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 whole egg
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 2 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoons salt
  • ¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • ⅛ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together sugar and butter until fluffy.

Next whip in vanilla, egg, lemon juice/zest.

In another bowl, combine dry ingredients through flour and slowly add to cream mixture. Thoroughly combine.

Put powered sugar on a plate, roll batter into heaping teaspoon balls and roll in powdered sugar.

Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes until barely brown and they have a matte look to them. Cool on sheet for a bit, then transfer to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.

This was a very simple recipe that makes delicious cookies! They would make great gifts this holiday season! The problem with this is keeping myself and the DH from eating them before I can get them wrapped up! 🙂

abp

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ~ Dr. Seuss

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Saturday. 6:15 a.m.

WHAT am I doing AWAKE???

Never fails – I can’t sleep when I can sleep in but am always snoozing when the alarm goes off during the week. Oh well. Might as well be productive! (As long as I can be productive from the comfort of my pillow loaded bed) 🙂

I actually have a pretty full day ahead of me but that can not get started until the DH and my cute pumpkin of a stepson wake up. (lucky boys)

There’s both an Alabama and Auburn game on today we have to watch, we wanna go to the Moundville Native American Festival and also try to take in a movie – we’re thinking Hotel Transylvania or Pitch Perfect. But first on my list today is going to the grocery store. I am itching to make a recipe I found on Normal Cooking written by a great girl named Lindsay (even if she is an Auburn fan) 🙂 You really need to check out her page! I’m so impressed with her – she cooks and post like everyday!!! I aspire to be more like that!

Garlicky Baked Shrimp is the recipe that I will be trying tonight.  It looks to be simple but very, very tasty! Thanks Lindsey for sharing.

Garlicky Baked Shrimp

1 lb. raw shrimp, deveined and peeled (I pull the tails off beforehand too)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. white wine
salt and pepper
1/4 cup (4 Tbsp.) melted butter
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp. fresh Italian-leaf parsley, chopped
Juice of half of a lemon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350º

Start by combining the garlic, lemon juice and wine.

Mix in shrimp until completely combined.

Pour into baking dish and spread evenly, season with salt and pepper.

Then mix butter, Panko crumbs and parsley (I didn’t have fresh so I used dry italian seasoning).

Sprinkle Panko mixture evenly over shrimp.

Cook at 350º for 15-18 or until shrimp are cooked through. (I had to broil mine a bit at the end to get the browness I wanted)

I served this with a salad and fettuccine spaghetti alfredo (one of the pumpkins favorites).

It was delicious! Once again I thank Lindsay of Normal Cooking for sharing this recipe. I look forward to trying more of hers!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

abp

(p.s. we did see Hotel Transylvania – very cute movie and then went to see Argo on Sunday night – very good, I see Oscars in it’s future!)

“I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, I hear it in the deep heart’s core.” – William Butler Yeats

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Fabulous day! For starters, the weather could not have been better – it felt like fall when I walked outside to get the paper.

NO humidity!!!!

So after coffee and a couple loads of clothes, it was off to Church – the service was great, as usual. 🙂

Then it was home to shed the spiffy duds and off to the lake with a quick stop at KFC’s drive through – have you tried their new chicken bites??? If not, I recommend you do – yummy!

The next few hours were spent bobbing around on our floats working on our tans, yapping away with my mom and the hubby as he read on the dock. It really is the simple things in life that make it special.

When I returned home (a touch pink) I really wanted to cook something simple and light. So I decided on Spicy Lemon Butter baked red snapper and a lemon orzo salad with asparagus and tomatoes.

The salad is adapted from SparkRecipes.com – lots of good healthy recipes on this site. The snapper recipe is from my dear friend Dianne, who whipped this up last time she was at the beach and she passed it on to me. (Thank you D.C.!)

Lemon Orzo Salad with Asparagus and Tomatoes

  • 6 oz of orzo pasta
  • ½ bunch of skinny asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • ½ pint of grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
  • 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley minced
  • kosher salt (to taste)
  • fresh ground pepper (to taste)
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Start by boiling 2 large pots of salted water.

Cook orzo according to package in one and blanch the asparagus for 2-3 minutes in the other. Drain pasta and remove asparagus with slotted spoon to an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Combine orzo, tomatoes and asparagus in large bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.

Mix all ingredients together and then stir in Parmesan cheese.

This can be served warm, room temperature or chilled. I liked it chilled – great summer salad!

The snapper (bought from my fish man, Bayou Joe) was super easy and very flavorful!!

Place the snapper skin down in baking dish. Pour 1 stick of melted butter over the filets, sprinkle with cajun seasoning, garlic salt and cover with lemon slices.

Bake at 425° for 25 minutes.

There you go! Simple and healthy!!

Now I’m off to watch the Olympic Closing Ceremonies!!

Hope everyone had a super fabulous weekend!

abp