Berry Delicious Desserts

I would never describe myself as a lover of desserts or chocolate. I hardly ever make desserts. I could count the number of times I have made a dessert on both hands in the past year. And most of those times were due to party planning. But that does not mean I don't like desserts. They are especially appealing to me when fruit is somehow incorporated. So here are some beautifully delicious fruit inspired desserts.

Berry Trifle

My client gave me the idea to do a trifle bar for the bridal shower I threw over the weekend. It was fun and I think everyone really enjoyed it... because many of them went back for seconds! It was easy to pull together, which is always a plus when serving food for a party. Here is how you can do it!

Cake

• 1 box of cake mix of your choice (I used Betty Crocker's Golden Vanilla)
  
• wet ingredients in the amounts the box suggests
  

Instead of taking the time to make a cake from scratch, I used a cake mix. Several hours before your event, bake cake in a cookie sheet so it isn't as thick as a regular cake. Make sure you reduce the cooking time. Use a toothpick to determine when it is done (when it comes out clean). Mine was done in about 15 minutes. Let the cake sit out uncovered for several hours. This will help keep it from sticking together when you cut it into little pieces. About 20-30 minutes before serving, cut the cake into 1 inch square pieces and serve them on a platter.

Custard

• 2 small boxes of pudding of your choice (I used White Chocolate)

Once again, I could have made the custard from scratch. But I had cleaning and other things to get done. You can make the pudding ahead of time as well and let it chill in the refrigerator.

Toppings

• Fruit- I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and bananas.
• Sauces- caramel, strawberry, chocolate
• Ready whip

My client also let me borrow an assortment of fun glasses. Everyone had fun picking their own cute glass and what ingredients they wanted to include.

Berry Chocolate Panini

Since I had left over berries from the trifles, I made these treats just for fun. I would highly recommend them. Even my husband, who doesn't get excited about dessert, thought they were scrumptious.

• 8 slices of day-old-bread (or 2 day, in my case)- I used a baguette
• A couple of strawberries, sliced thin
• 8 or so raspberries
• chocolate chips or chocolate sauce
• strawberry or raspberry jam (optional)
• 1 Tbs. olive oil

1. Put olive oil in a small prep bowl. Using a pastry brush, or an unused paint brush, brush a small amount of olive oil on one side of 4 bread slices. Place on heated panini grill, oil side down.
2. Place a few chocolate chips on top of bread. This allows the heat to start melting the chocolate while you slice the strawberries and prepare the rest.
3. If using jam, spread a small amount on one side of the other 4 slices.
4. Place strawberry slices and raspberries on top of the chocolate chips.
5. Place the remaining slices on top of the berries. Brush olive oil on top. Smash with grill top and heat until chocolate is completely melted. Serve and enjoy!
   

I would recommend using a baguette for these because of the small size. These are rich, and in my opinion, good things come in small packages. Plus, they look cute when they are small. I made 4 for the two of us, but we thought 1 each was just enough. If you don't have a panini grill, you can heat them in a pan on the stove. They just won't have the attractive grill marks. Once again, these were fabulous.

Bridal Shower Invitations

One of my oldest and best friends is getting married in a few weeks and I have the privilege of throwing her a bridal shower. It is this week and I've been having a lot of fun planning it. I'm just crossing my fingers the weather will cooperate because I'm planning to do it outside. Hopefully I will have good pictures to post from it in the future. This post is just to show the invitations I made for it. I thought they turned out cute for being so cheap and so easy to throw together. This picture is pretty terrible though, so it doesn't look too exciting. I thought this style would be cute for a baby announcement as well.

Something Healthy: Katherine’s Green Drink

Because I am pursuing a master’s degree in Health Promotion, I am often asked for advice on how to eat healthy. So I thought I could devote a theme to my blog on ways to do just that. For the most part, I try to ‘healthify’ any meal I make, but some are better than others. In the future, look forward to more “Something Healthy” posts.

My advice to go along with this post is to strive to eat a serving of vegetables for breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I never crave a salad when I first wake up. Most people eat veggies for breakfast by adding them to omelets and frittatas. Not a terrible idea, but I wouldn’t recommend eating eggs every day. Other methods do exist. I’m sure you have all seen those green drinks and smoothies at grocery stores. The most common brands are Odwalla and Naked Juice. These drinks sound and look healthy (the green color), but I have a better alternative for you, I promise.

My parents came to visit me recently for my husband’s graduation. While they were here they bought me one of those huge bags of fresh spinach from Costco. I love spinach, but let’s be honest, those bags are huge. I worried I would not be able to finish it before it went bad and freezing wasn’t really an option because I do not love frozen spinach and my husband especially does not care for it. So I started experimenting with it! And this is what I came up with.

Katherine’s Green Drink

2 cups fresh spinach

8 medium strawberries (fresh or frozen), halved

1 medium banana, sliced

½-1 cup of cold water

1. Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth

2. Enjoy!

This drink/smoothie is surprisingly delicious. The banana contributes most of the calories and sugar, but it does its job well! It adds sweetness without adding extra sugar, and it also adds creaminess you would otherwise get from yogurt, milk, or cream. If you don’t want the sugar, use less of the banana or skip it altogether.

Let me now introduce you to a good friend of mine. Meet Sparkpeople’s Recipe Calculator. This allows you to input ingredients from recipes and spits out the nutritional information.

Let me point out some selling points from the nutritional information from my green drink. If you ate the amount the recipe makes (about 20 oz) you will only consume 151 calories, 6.4 grams of fiber, and 15 grams of sugars (from the banana). Let’s now compare to Naked Juice “Green Machine.” An 8 oz serving gives you 140 calories, 0 grams of fiber, and 28 grams of sugar. However, the typical bottle size is about 16 oz. If you drink the entire bottle you will get 280 calories, 0 grams of fiber, and 56 grams of sugar. In addition, the “Green Machine” only contains 100 mg of spinach whereas my version has 85 grams of spinach. I would definitely recommend my version with a slice of whole wheat toast for a quick and satisfying breakfast.

*Note: Smoothies are often the key component to many silly diets out there. I’m not advertising this smoothie as a weight loss plan. Consuming ample amounts of fruits and veggies (especially leafy greens like spinach) is strongly associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease, cancers, and other chronic diseases. My goal here is to enable you to eat more fruits and veggies and to enjoy doing it!

Cinco de Mayo, it's holiday time!

I'm back! I know it has been a while. Like always, my excuse is that I was busy with school. But now that it is Spring/Summer term, I am only taking thesis credits and have zero coursework! Yea!

I realized it was Cinco de Mayo while I was at work yesterday. So while I walked home, I came up with this festive meal...

Dora's Mexican rice, Refried Beans, and Chile Lime Quesadillas

I was really happy with the way this meal turned out. And it surprisingly took little time. The rice recipe is from a family friend who comes from family of excellent Mexican cooking. It is authentic, easy, and delicious. The beans and quesadillas are satisfying creations from simple ingredients that were already in my pantry. Here are the recipes.

Dora's Mexican Rice

Ingredients
2 cups rice
1-8 oz. can of Mexican Style tomato sauce
4 cups water
5 tsp chicken flavor bouillon
drizzle of olive oil
Pinch of salt

1. Drizzle olive oil in a 2 qt pot. Heat oil and add rice. Cover rice in oil and heat until golden. Do not let the rice burn. This gives the rice a nice authentic texture.
   
2. Add water, tomato sauce, and bouillon. Stir until well mixed.
3. Let simmer until rice is done. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Refried Beans

I would like to make real refried beans one day, but I was short on time last night. So here is what I came up with.

1 can refried beans
1 Tbs lime juice
Sprinkle of goat or feta cheese
cilantro

1. Mix and heat through.
2. Garnish with cheese and cilantro
   

The lime juice definitely spruced up the boring can of beans.

Chile Lime Quesadillas

Ingredients
1-16 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1-4 oz. can chiles
1 Tbs lime juice
1/4 cup salsa
1/2 cup pepperjack cheese
cilantro
4 tortillas of your choice

1. Drizzle olive oil in pan and turn heat to medium.
2. Add beans, chiles, lime juice, and salsa.
   
3. Mix and heat through.
4. Add half of the mixture to one tortilla and the other half to another. Top with cheese and cilantro. Top each quesadilla with a second tortilla.
   
5. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until cheese is melted.
   

I would recommend enjoying this meal with horchata, preferably served in a margherita glass. Enjoy!

Gift Idea: Homemade Books

Allie (my niece) turned 6 years old this past week. It took me a while to come up with an idea of what to get her, but finally came up with these cute homemade books that I learned how to make at a church activity. She is in kindergarten this year and loves to draw and write. It was fun to pick out paper that reflects her girly girl personality. I was a little worried about her reaction, but they were a hit. She really likes them.

These are great for children, but I think if you got the right paper, adults would love them to. You can get creative with these by adding all kinds of embellishments. I would suggest putting their name on it to make it personalized (especially for kids).

Here is how you can do it!

Supplies

• decorative paper for the front and back cover
  
• computer paper for the inside of the book (or any kind of paper)
• embroidery thread, waxed cotton, or whatever you would like to do the "sewing" with
• pieces of cardboard (optional- to make the front and back cover less flimsy)

Instructions

1. Since I didn't take pictures of myself making the books, I'm going to direct you to this website instead. I figure this is easier than my explanation with only text. The figures definitely help!
2. Feel free to ask me any questions if the instructions are confusing!

Psst... For all four books, this gift cost less than $2.00!

New Ideas!

I have been thinking about some ideas on making this blog even more fun for me (and you). With my busy schedule, I tend to put blogging off. I still do craft (although it is not frequent) and make new/old recipes (this is frequent because we have to eat) and I take pictures of them, it is just the posting that gets put off. I have a picture folder with at least ten recipes to blog about just sitting there waiting for their chance in the spotlight.
So I want to come up with ways that will give me somewhat of a deadline, but not a strict deadline. Here are a few ideas I have come up with, but I would love your input on more that would be fun.

• Meal of the Month: Where I would post an entire meal (main dish and two side dishes) rather than individual recipes. This way I will for sure post one complete meal once a month.
  
• Challenge!: Where you suggest a cooking/crafting/whatever challenge for me to complete. Here is an example of a challenge: "I want to make something for a bare wall in my house (cheaper is better)." I could then respond to your challenge with a post like "Sprucing up the bathroom."
• Gift Idea: Where I would post things I have made and then gave away as gifts.

Please let me know what you think of these ideas and of any other suggestions you have.

Chipotle Cilantro Hummus

It is about time that I posted about hummus. I am a huge fan of hummus. It is a great dip for chips, pita, or veggies and is also great as a spread for pizzas and sandwiches. Not to mention, it is a healthy snack. Hummus traditionally uses olive oil and/or tahini (made from sesame seeds) which are mostly comprised of healthy monounsaturated fats. Consuming monounsaturated fats is one of the most effective dietary changes a person can make to increase HDL (good) cholesterol. For my Lifestyle and Chronic Disease Prevention class, I have to improve my own cholesterol levels, my HDL in particular. So I may end up making (and eating) a lot of hummus this semester. Increasing duration and intensity of exercise is even more effective, so I am working on that as well.
I found this hummus recipe about a year ago from 28 cooks and decided to try it out. It is Landon's favorite hummus of all time, and I love it as well. Hope you enjoy!

Chipolte Cilantro Hummus
2 (15 oz) cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 canned chipolte chiles, and
1 tbsp adobo sauce
1 clove garlic
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tbsp cilantro

Puree chipolte chiles and adobo sauce in a food processor until well minced. Add garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas), garlic, and cumin and process until smooth. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until well mixed. Add cilantro and pulse a few times. Allow to chill in the refrigerator for an hour or so for flavors to make friends.

You can find chipotle chiles canned in abodo sauce in the Mexican section of your local grocery store.

*This hummus has some kick to it, if you do not like much "kick," use fewer chiles.

Ratings (scale of 0-10)
Landon: 9.8
Katherine: 9