Oma's Super Healthy Salad Dressing

February 22, 2011
This is one of those recipes that you're probably going to think "That's strange!  Really, that's good?"  Honestly, that's what I thought when I was first told about this salad dressing.  But, I promise, this is all you need to make super tasty and amazingly healthy Oma's Salad Dressing:

Oma's Salad Dressing ingredients - tomato juice, cider vinegar, salt, pepper, & sugar
First, some background on this recipe.  Oma is Mark's grandmother.  She lived with Mark's family when Mark was growing up, and apparently she made this salad dressing all the time.  When I decided to create a family cookbook last year, this is one of the recipes that Mark put on his "must include" list.  So, I went to work finding out from Mark's mom how to make this.  When she told me about it, I thought to myself, "Oh, that just doesn't sound good."  But I was pleasantly surprised to find that it truly is very good!  And healthy.  And another plus - it's super fast.

Here's all you do.  Measure out your ingredients into a small bowl.


Whisk them together with a fork.  That's it.  You're done.


Pour the dressing over your salad.  There will be a lot of liquid in the bottom of the salad bowl - like this:


But that's okay, it's supposed to be that way.  When individual servings are scooped out, make sure to get some of the juice from the bottom of the bowl for each one.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how flavorful this is!

Oma's Super Healthy Salad Dressing
Source:  Mark's Grandmother (Oma)
(Printable recipe)
Ingredients
3/4 c. tomato juice
2 T. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.  Whisk together with a fork.  Pour over tossed salad.

A couple of notes:
  • I buy the little cans of tomato juice and keep them on-hand in the pantry.  That way, I have the ingredients I need for this pretty much all the time - and I don't end up wasting a bunch of tomato juice from the huge cans.
  • The black pepper controls the spiciness of the dressing.  The full 1/2 tsp. makes it quite spicy.
  • You can add extra cider vinegar, too taste. 
1

Blueberry Gingerbread

February 20, 2011
Blueberry Gingerbread is moist, flavorful, and bursting with fresh blueberries.  It's full of all the spice you expect from a wonderful gingerbread ... plus packed with little surprises of blueberry sweetness in each bite.

Blueberry Gingerbread


What?  Blueberry gingerbread?  Yes, blueberry gingerbread - and oh my it's tasty!  This is one of those recipes I found out in the blogosphere and thought, hmmmm, that could be really wonderful or a complete flop.  So I put it on my "50 Recipes for 2011" list so it would be in queue to be tried.  It turned out to be really wonderful!

Bursting with fresh blueberries, Blueberry Gingerbread is moist and flavorful ~ full of all the spice you expect from a wonderful gingerbread ... plus little surprises of blueberry sweetness in each bite.

Making Blueberry Gingerbread

Mix up some standard gingerbread batter ... And then fold in big, beautiful fresh blueberries.

Making Blueberry Gingerbread

Dusting the blueberries with flour before folding them into the batter helps keep them from all just sinking to the bottom of the cake, resulting in Blueberry Gingerbread studded with berries throughout ... instead of just a layer of gingerbread cake with a bunch of blueberries at the bottom.

Believe me, the combination of gingerbread and blueberries is soooo yummy, you'll certainly want to make sure you get some of those blueberries in every bite!

Pour the batter into a baking pan,  bake it all up ...

Blueberry Gingerbread

... and top a big slice of Blueberry Gingerbread with some whipped cream, and enjoy it's blueberry-studded deliciousness!

I think I may just go enjoy a slice right now - there's still a {little} bit left.  {But I doubt it will last long!}

Blueberry Gingerbread
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blueberry gingerbread recipe, gingerbread cake recipe, gingerbread with blueberries recipe
Desserts
American
Yield: about 8-10 Servings
Author:

Blueberry Gingerbread

Blueberry Gingerbread

Blueberry Gingerbread is moist, flavorful, and bursting with fresh blueberries. It's full of all the spice you expect from a wonderful gingerbread ... plus packed with little surprises of blueberry sweetness in each bite.
Prep time: 20 MCook time: 40 MTotal time: 60 M

Ingredients:

  • 1 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/2 c. canola oil
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 4 T. molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 c. buttermilk
  • 1 c. fresh blueberries, dusted with 1 T. all-purpose flour

Instructions:

  1. Spray a 9x13” baking pan with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. With a mixer, beat the sugar, oil, salt and molasses thoroughly. Add the egg and mix again until combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, spices and baking soda. 
  4. Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture, a third at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Combine thoroughly after each addition.
  5. Gently stir in the blueberries, and pour the batter into prepared pan. 
  6. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Created using The Recipes Generator

Please enjoy these other delicious berry desserts from The Kitchen is My Playground ...




9

Would you like a cup of tea? - Chai Tea, that is

February 15, 2011
It's so easy to make your own flavorfully delicious Chai Tea Latte mix at home.  All it takes is a few simple ingredients & a whirl in a food processor!

Homemade Chai Tea Latte Mix image


My love of Chai Tea began back in my Corporate America days.  Before becoming a 1st grade teacher and then a food blogger, I spent 13 years working in the corporate grind.  Especially as I progressed in my career, I always seemed to be having morning "coffee meetings."  At least once a week, someone would say, "Let's meet for coffee to discuss that."

The problem - I don't drink coffee.  Never have, doubt I ever will.

I've tried to acquire a taste for coffee, but to no avail.  I just don't like it.  What was I to do?  I couldn't very well sit for hours-on-end at Starbuck's or Caribou and drink water, could I?  That seemed silly.

It's so easy to make your own flavorfully delicious Chai Tea Latte mix at home.  All it takes is a few simple ingredients & a whirl in a food processor!

And that's how I discovered Chai Tea Lattes, with their wonderful mix of ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and other spicy yumminess.

72

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing {for salads or dipping} & a Sweet Potato Chips FAIL!

February 13, 2011
Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing beats the bottled stuff, hands-down!  It makes for one fabulous dressing for salads, or a tasty dip for chips or wings.  Just don't plan on dipping homemade sweet potato chips in it ... unless you have much better luck than me.

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Image


Now just look at those homemade sweet potato chips.  Don't they look good?

 Well, unfortunately they weren't.


At least not as good as I expected them to be.  And, truth be told, they were quite "fussy" to make (read that "tedious!").  The amount of effort required was not worth the result.  The flavor was decent, but my texture result was not.

The potato chips have a combination of chili powder, cumin, and paprika on them.  So hmmmm, I thought to myself - if we dip buffalo hot wings in blue cheese dressing, might it be tasty to dip these spicy sweet potato chips in blue cheese dressing, too??  And that's how today's cooking adventure was born.

So, I went to work making sweet potato chips and blue cheese dressing. 

I'm happy to say that the blue cheese dressing is fabulous!

But instead of enjoying it as a dip for sweet potato chips, we'll be enjoying it on a salad, as a dip for good old vegetable sticks, or with a big platter of baked buffalo wings.

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe for Dipping Buffalo Wings Image

The homemade blue cheese dressing recipe is from my friend Jennie.  And I can say with confidence that, as of today, it will be a very rare day when I buy pre-fabbed bottled blue cheese dressing again.  I'm now a 100% homemade convert.

It's pretty simple to make, too.

First, put your blue cheese dressing base ingredients - some plain yogurt, mayonnaise, grated shallot, fresh lemon juice, and Worcestershire - in a bowl.

How to Make Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Image

Give it a good stir to get everything all cozy together.

How to Make Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Picture

Then put in blue cheese crumbles, and gently fold those in. 

How to Make Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Photo

You don't want to over-work it and break up all those nice, big hunks of blue cheese.  You want it to be all lumpy-bumpy.

And that's all there is to making homemade blue cheese dressing.

With phase 1 of the adventure done, it was time to move on to the sweet potato chips.  Unfortunately, phase 2 didn't go so well.  The first challenge was to get the sweet potatos sliced thinly - about 1/8" thick.  My food processor isn't able to slice that thinly, and I don't own a mandoline (and would be afraid I'd cut my fingers off if I did!  I'm a clutz.), so I tried the slicing side of my 6-sided box grater.  No luck.  This left me with only the option of slicing by hand.  Do you know how hard it is to evenly slice by hand?  Chock that up to "Fussiness" #1.

Next, toss the potato slices in a canola oil-and-spice mix to coat, and lay in a single layer on baking sheets.  Oil coated potato slices stick together and are not that easy to separate.  "Fussiness" #2.

Then bake, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn.  Remember that trouble I had slicing them evenly?  Well ... here's what happens when some of the slices are thinner than others ... they end up like these guys -- "Fussiness" #3.


Oh, and did I mention that half-way through cooking you turn the potato slices over?  I started this process using tongs, but it was hard to grab the slices because they were so thin.  So I ended up just using my fingers ... on potato slices that were baking in a 400 degree oven.  Yes, it did hurt.  Thank you for asking.  "Fussiness" #4.

The final result?  Sweet potato chips that were very unevenly cooked - sometimes burnt, sometimes just right, and - more often than not - soggy and flimsy.  While the flavor was good, I was severely disappointed with the end product.


So ... the very fabulous, absolutely yummy, amazingly wonderful homemade blue cheese dressing ended up being enjoyed like this ~ with good old celery sticks.  Yum.

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing Photo
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homemade blue cheese dressing, homemade blue cheese dressing recipe, chunky blue cheese dressing, blue cheese dip for wings
Salad Dressings
Yield: about 1 1/2 cups

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing beats the bottled stuff, hands-down! It makes for one fabulous dressing for salads, or a tasty dip for chips or wings.
prep time: 10 Mcook time: total time: 10 M

ingredients:

  • 3/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt (I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt)
  • 3/4 c. mayonnaise
  • 1 medium shallot, finely chopped (I usually use just a small slice from a regular onion, and grate it)
  • 1 T. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
  • 3 to 4 oz. good blue cheese, crumbled

instructions:

How to cook Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

  1. In a bowl, combine all dressing ingredients except the blue cheese. Crumble in the blue cheese and fold together gently. (NOTE: Don't use finely crumbled blue cheese - you want it chunky. And it's best to buy a block of cheese and crumble it yourself ~ the cheese is "more moist" and you get better, larger chunks.)
  2. Store covered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving to allow the flavors to meld.
Created using The Recipes Generator

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6

Cardamom - My new love!

February 12, 2011

I have a new love - cardamom!  I don't know how it has taken me soooooo long to discover this wonderful spice, but I'm so glad I have now.  Actually, I guess I've loved it for a long time - I just didn't know it.  It's a key ingredient in Chai Tea, and I absolutely LOVE Chai Tea.  I just had no idea that the wonderfully intoxicating flavor in Chai was cardamom.  (Side note - I've worked on a recipe for Chai Tea mix for a while, and have it tinkered to my liking ... but I'll save that for a future post.  Stay tuned!)

Cardamom, to me, has a fabulous and very unique, intense flavor.  Descriptions I've read of it describe it as having "eucalyptus tones," but to me it's like a very florally peppery taste.  I don't think there are any words to do it's flavor justice, honestly.  I think you just have to experience it for yourself.

Oh, I'm very much looking forward to getting to know my new love better.  Here are a few of the cardamom recipes I've found that pique my interest:

Strawberry Cardamom Shortcake
Cardamom Roasted Almonds
Cardamom-Dark Chocolate Tart (oh, my!)
Chai Shortbread (Hmmmm ... maybe with a cup of Chai Tea???)
Cardamom Vanilla Poundcake
Chocolate Cardamom Truffles
Cardamom Creme Brulee (can't wait ...)

It'll take me a while to work through these, but rest assured I plan on trying each one!  And, rest assured, I'll let you in on the results.  Cupid's cardamom arrow has definitely struck me.


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2

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies - and the great ganache debate

February 9, 2011
I love chocolate chip cookies.  I love brownies.  So, why not put them together? Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies are certainly one treat our family can't resist.  And let me just tell you ~ these are sooo good, you won't be able to resist either.
CLICK HERE TO PIN FOR LATER

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies ~ Bring together the best of two worlds!  Two favorites so good together, you and your family won't be able to resist.

7

Broccoli Salad and Chipotle Mac & Cheese - success and failure

February 6, 2011
Well... I had both success and failure in the day's cooking adventures.  The Broccoli Salad is fantastic - but I knew it would be.  It's a recipe from my Mom, and she's an absolutely fabulous cook so I had no doubts. 

But the Chipotle Mac & Cheese was from one of the foodie blogs I frequent, so one can't be sure until one tries the recipe oneself.  It was waaaaaayyyyyy too spicy - and I LOVE heat in my food, and I STILL think it was waaaaayyyy too spicy!  Mark's comment when he tasted it:  "I love you honey, but your experiment is a failure."  He actually started referring to it as "the barely edible mac & cheese."  He's not one to mince words - and I love that about him.  Just tell it like it is.  I appreciate that.  I don't even think the Mac & Cheese is worth re-working to tone it down.  Think I just have to accept defeat on that one.

So, here's the recipe for my Mom's Broccoli Salad.  It was the succes of the day!


Donna's Broccoli Salad
Source:  My Mom
(Printable recipe)
Ingredients
Salad:
1 bunch broccoli, broken into small flowerets
1/2 c red onion, chopped
1 c celery, chopped
8 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/2 c hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 c golden raisins or craisins

Dressing:
3/4 c mayonnaise
1/4 c sugar or Splenda
2 T apple cider


Directions
Combine salad ingredients in large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients; pour over salad and toss. Serve chilled.  (NOTE:  I used turkey bacon, and it worked just great.)

Enjoy!
2

Butter Pecan Cake - the 1st of my "50 Recipes for 2011"



Woo hoo!  I completed the first recipe from my list of "50 Recipes for 2011" - Butter Pecan Cake.  The original title is Butter Pecan Pound Cake, but it's texture isn't really that of a pound cake to me ... it's much "fluffier" ... so I'm just going to call it Butter Pecan Cake.  I don't think anyone will mind.

I'm generally a "from scratch" baker, but this cake doctors up a store-bought cake mix and store-bought frosting.  I'm not opposed to giving a doctored up mix a try!

Brought the cake to school for the birthday of one of my friends, and it got great reviews.  So, here's the recipe.  It's SUPER easy!!  And don't we all love tasty recipes that are SUPER easy?




Butter Pecan Cake
Source:  A Family Friend
(Printable recipe)
Ingredients
1 box Betty Crocker Butter Pecan cake mix
1 can Coconut Pecan Frosting
1/2 c. oil
1 c. water
4 eggs

Directions
Mix all ingredients (including the frosting ... yep, put it IN the batter) in one bowl.  Beat about 2 minutes.  Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan (or tube pan).  Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.  (I had to bake mine 60 minutes.)

Enjoy!



Please enjoy these other fabulous cakes from The Kitchen is My Playground...


8

"50 Recipes for 2011" Project - I better get cooking!

I collect recipes.  It's an addiction.  I have more recipes than I could possibly prepare in my lifetime, yet I continue to collect them - from new cookbooks, from friends, cooking magazines, cooking blogs, make up my own - you name it.  I read cookbooks like most people read novels.  But despite this huge collection of recipes, I still tend to cook the same ol' stuff over and over and over and over.  Sound familiar?  Or am I the only one who gets stuck in this cooking rut??

So, I decided to create a list of 50 new-to-me recipes I want to make by the end of the year.  That's about one per week - definitely doable, I think.  Most of these come from the family cookbook I published this year.  I figure I should work on cooking my way through "my own" cookbook as a first goal!  Out of the 534 recipes in it, I've cooked 282 of them myself - leaving me 252 still to do.  That's a lot.  Should keep me going for a while!

Our Family Cookbook
  Well ... here are my "50 Recipes for 2011."  I would have loved for all 50 of them to be wonderfully ooey-gooey chocolatey desserts, but I don't think my waistline can take that!  I've tried to show just a teeeeeeeny-tiiiiiny bit of restraint by making them a good mix of stuff.  I'll post some of the good ones so you can try them, too, if you're interested.  Happy cooking!

As I try these, I'll post updates in red.
  1. Blueberry Salsa    (I'm intrigued by this --- could be great ... could be terrible!)  SUCCESS! (click here to view post)
  2. Redneck Caviar    (a.k.a. Texas Caviar ... but I think the name Redneck Caviar is way funnier!)  SUCCESS!  (click here to view post)
  3. Spinach Cheese Swirls
  4. Sweet Potato Chips  FAILURE  (click here to view post)
  5. Apricot-Almond Coffee Cake
  6. Chocolate Chip "Puffins"    (Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins - get where the "Puffins" comes from??)
  7. Maple-Cardamom Sweet Potato Biscuits  Needs to be waaayy re-worked... so I'll say FAILURE
  8. Pumpkin Bread
  9. Sourdough Bread    (This one scares me!  But I'm up for the challenge.)
  10. Chocolate Fudge   (Can you believe I've never made fudge?  Homemade marshmallows, yes - fudge, no.  Crazy.)  SUCCESS!  (click here to view post)
  11. Honey Rum Marshmallows  (I've mastered regular, so time to move on to flavors!)
  12. Oreo Truffles    SUCCESS!   (click here to view post)
  13. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies   SUCCESS!    (click here to view post)
  14. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pops     (Like cake pops, but with cookie dough ... gotta do it, just gotta do it.)   SUCCESS!   (click here to view post)
  15. Fig Nut Bars
  16. S'more Nut Bars
  17. S'more Whoopie Pies     (I'm a bit obssessed with S'mores.)
  18. Whoopie Pies       (A family classic, but I've never made them myself.)
  19. Neopolitan Cupcakes
  20. Persimmon Cupcakes & Persimmon Frosting
  21. Pomegranate Chocolate Cupcakes  FAILURE
  22. Blueberry Crisp    SUCCESS!  (click here to view post)
  23. Blueberry Gingerbread    SUCCESS! (click here to view post)
  24. Blueberry Pie
  25. Butter Pecan Pound Cake    SUCCESS!    (click here to view post)
  26. Chocolate Loaf Cake     SUCCESS!
  27. Coconut Pie
  28. Fig and Almond Cheesecake
  29. Fig Tart
  30. German Chocolate Cake
  31. Honey Whole Wheat Pound Cake
  32. Pie Crust          (Nope, never made my own pie crust - always cheated with pre-made.  Please don't be disappointed with me.)  I did it ... but it wasn't great.  I need to try again.
  33. Shoo Fly Pie     (Southern classic!)
  34. Welta's Pound Cake    (Another southern classic.  Welta is my mother-in-law.  Not sure I can live up to hers!)    SUCCESS!  (click here to view post)
  35. Chipotle Mac & Cheese       (Mmmmmmm ... chipotle.)  FAILURE   (click here to view post)
  36. Crab, Shrimp, & Wild Rice Casserole
  37. Easy Hamburger Stroganoff
  38. Easy Scalloped Salmon
  39. Roasted Grapes & Pasta    SUCCESS!    (click here to view post)
  40. Broccoli Salad    SUCCESS!   (click here to view post)
  41. Blue Cheese Dressing      (Have eaten it a lot, but never made my own!)    SUCCESS!  (click here to view post)
  42. Pea Salad   SUCCESS! (click here to view post)
  43. Brussels Sprout Soup   SUCCESS!  (click here to view post)
  44. Chesapeake House Fish Stew    Not as good as I remember my mom making ... have to say FAILURE
  45. Mushroom Gouda Chowder
  46. Baked Squash
  47. Dill Pickles (canned)        (I've never canned!  This one scares me a bit, too.)
  48. Mashed Squash Casserole
  49. Sauteed Cabbage
  50. Sherried Fruit Bake     (How can you go wrong with sherry?)
2
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