Blueberries

My friend Sara and I were talking about blueberry recipes the other day and it made me want to find more to add to my collection. I didn't used to like blueberries AT ALL, but we went to a farm to pick some a while ago and the blueberries there were divine. Mom made a blueberry cobbler and I couldn't find the recipe she used, but I found this one that's similar for a blueberry crisp by Martha Stewart. If you're in the mood for a good blueberry desert, I highly recommend this.

Blueberry Crisp

Martha Stewart

This crisp has a loose and juicy filling. If you would prefer a thicker filling, add an extra teaspoon of cornstarch.

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

• 6 cups (3 pints) blueberries

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

For the topping

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup rolled oats (or chopped nuts, such as almonds)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

• ⅓ cup sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°. Make the filling: Mix blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a bowl. Transfer to an 8-inch squarebaking dish.

Make the topping: Stir together flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until pale and fluffy. Stir dry ingredients into butter. Using your hands, squeeze topping pieces together into clumps.

Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake until bubbling in center and brown on top, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Sensible Savings

I've had a lot of people ask me lately about how I coupon and how I score some of the great deals I've found lately. My latest creative adventure has been putting together a blog of some of the great things I've found. It's only a start, but check it out if you have time. http://sensiblesavings.blogspot.com

Deceptively Delicious

My friend introduced me to Deceptively Delicious, a cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife). She developed a lot of recipes that are kid friendly and include purees of healthy food in them. I thought it sounded interesting so we checked it out from the library and tried a few of the recipes. We really liked the ice cream sandwiches, which are basically lemon frozen yogurt in graham crackers, we HATED the hamburgers which had carrot puree in them, and we loved the two recipes below. I thought it was a good cookbook overall. One day I hope to buy it.

Applesauce Muffins

Topping

2/3 c old fashioned oats

1/4 c firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread, melted

Batter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree

1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups

To make the topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the margarine

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or ziploc bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix-the batter is supposed to be lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffins, 18-20 min. Turn muffins out onto a rack and serve warm or cool.

Macaroni and Cheese 2

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat elbow macaroni

1 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup canned navy beans or chickpeas or white beans rinsed, drained, and pureed

Nonstick cooking spray

1 12/ cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add macaroni, cook according to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander

While macaroni is cooking, combine milk and beans in a food processor and process until pureed

Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set it over medium heat. Add bean mixture to the pan and cook, stirring until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add cheese and cook until melted and creamy, 1-2 minutes longer. Stir in salt, garlic powder, paprika, and pepper. Stir in macaroni and serve warm.

Easy Pizza Crust

2 - 2 1/4 c. flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp salt
1/4 c. margarine, melted
2 pkgs yeast, dissolved in 3/4 c. water (2 pkgs yeast = 4 1/2 tsp)

Combine dry ingredients. Add margarine, water and yeast mixture & knead until smooth. Roll out onto pan and add toppings. Cook at 350-375 for about 15 minutes. Check pizza at 10 minutes and continue checking until done.
Recipe given to me by Ken Leek.

My favorite pizza dough recipe ever! It always turns out and is delicious. I sometimes do half-wheat flour, half-white flour, but to be honest, all white flour is definitely the tastiest. Usually we are 100% wheat people, but we give in sometimes. Great way to use leftover meat or veggies is to throw them onto a pizza!

Homemade Pesto

Serves 6. Can be found at Allrecipes.com or here.

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup almonds
3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil (EVOO)
1 pinch ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place almonds on a cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted.
In a food processor, combine toasted almonds, garlic, basil, olive oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Process until a coarse paste is formed.

(This does form a paste, so it is best when you eat it to add a little more EVOO and mix it well into the pasta. It's not a sauce. We added chicken to ours, it was great!)

Homemade Bread

I've been wanting to learn how to make homemade bread. After many tries, some help from books, I finally can do it! YAY! So much healthier and no high-fructose corn syrup in our whole wheat bread! Did you know it's in bread??? I had no idea.

The best way to do it is in this book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. If you google that, New York Times did do an article on it that gives you the basic recipe; however, I recommend checking out the book from your friendly, neighborhood library. Basic recipe for a French Boule is excellent, but once you get that down, the possibilities are endless, including some great whole wheat sandwich bread. Plus it has pastrie recipes based off the same concept, so really, endless possibilties. Best part-- no kneading in any of these recipes or the next! They also just came out with a new book, Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Haven't checked it out but looks promising.

This is also a great recipe for One Hour Wheat Bread. Best if you have access to a standing-mixer of some sort. I have a hand mixer with the bread attachments, but it was super annoying. Could've just been mine for some reason, but it kept sticking and getting inside where the attachments click in. I ended up just kneading it, which worked out fine.

Haven't tried this recipe for Homemade Granola Bars yet, but plan on it. They look yum!! I'll post when I do.