Strawberry Pizza

Fresh, juicy, red strawberries. Finally, they're back in season!  Straight out of college, I got my first job in a town in Florida called Plant City.  It's claim to fame is being "The Strawberry Capital of the World".  I do have to admit, they were phenomenal strawberries. So now, every time I go to the supermarket to buy strawberries I look to see if they're from Plant City.  Most of the time they're not since I live in California.  When in season, the ones out here in Cali are good too, but there's just something about those Plant City strawberries that made them extra juicy and sweet.   If you happen to be in the area, the Florida Strawberry Festival goes on from March 3-13, 2011.  The California Strawberry Festival will be held May 21-22, 2011 in Oxnard.


Strawberry pizza, that's what I decided to make for our monthly bunco night.  I found the original version of this recipe in my favorite magazine, Cuisine at Home.  I highly recommend getting a subscription (and no, I was not paid to say this!).  I don't think I've ever been disappointed with any of their recipes.  Most of the time they aren't too weird either.  Some cooking magazines try to get too fancy and creative and have you running around to all the supermarkets trying to find obscure ingredients.  Not Cuisine at Home, they use every day ingredients, for the most part, to create mouthwatering recipes that are never to disappoint.

There were a couple things I changed.  For some reason, my shortbread dough was too wet so I had to add an extra 1/3 cup of flour.   It was enough extra flour to make it spreadable without making a gooey mess all over my hands.  Also, instead of using mascarpone cheese, I used a substitute I found on Judy's Kitchen that consisted of cream cheese, sour cream and heavy cream.  It tasted great in the finished strawberry pizza.

I loved this dessert.  Next time, I think I'll make only half the amount of shortbread dough so that it is thinner.  A few friends and I agreed that we got full on the crust.  Regardless, it was still fantastic!

Spread dough out onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Spread cream cheese mixture on top of shortbread crust.

Fresh slice strawberries, mmm!

Strawberry Pizza....ready to cut and eat!

Sandy's Green Smoothie Stuff

Green smoothie? Gross right? Don't be so quick to judge, it's actually very good.....and healthy!  Yep, I said it, good AND healthy!  I can't even taste the 'green stuff' (aka. spinach) and neither can the 17 month old picky patron.  Usually I'm not one to hide vegetables in the food I give Aaron, but this smoothie is an exception.  What a great way to get him to get his recommended dose of leafy greens.  Even the hubby tasted it and said it was good, but had too much banana.  Better he said 'too much banana' rather than spinach! hehe

Aaron enjoying his green stuff.

So, whether you have picky eating kids or just want another way to get some healthy greens in the ole bod, I can't think of a more tasty way!

This makes enough for 4 servings, so I only make a quarter of it since it won't keep well.  I have been informed that a half recipe will fit in a normal size blender.  

For Aaron's smoothies I keep it simple:

1/3 cup OJ (more or less)

1/2 banana

1/4 apple

small handful of spinach

3 ice cubes

To print, left click >file >print. To save file to your computer, right click on image, then "save image as".

Optional add ins, use one or more as desired:

 1/2 carrot (not too much)
  chunk of cucumber w/skin
  a piece of cooked sweet potato 

  2 T of canned pumpkin (freeze remainder in ice cube tray for future use)
  4-5 cherry tomatoes  or 1 slice of a large one
 

 coconut milk - 2- 4 Tablespoons or grated coconut (fresh would be ideal)

lime or lemon juice- a squirt or two

parsley or cilantro , fresh - a couple sprigs  

nutmeg 

cinnamon

vanilla,  about 1/2 teaspoon 

fresh grated ginger 

Experiment with other stuff, erring on the cautious side so not to spoil the taste, all measurements are just a suggestion - adjust to your taste. 

Summer salads

Ahh another weekend in the books.  This weekend was full of fun summer bbq's with good friends.   I used these opportunities to share some new salad recipes I recently acquired.

Caramel Apple Deconstructed

I'll start with a yummy caramel apple salad that I got a few weeks ago from my mom. She had it at a bbq and was able to snag the recipe.  I would say it's more of a dessert than a side dish since it's pretty sweet. The best part is that I was able to whip it up super quick! What's even better is that I didn't feel a bit guilty while eating a big bowl full. :)

I have made the caramel apple salad using Lite Cool Whip and Fat Free Cool Whip.  I couldn't really tell a difference, but when I made it with Fat Free Cool Whip I only added 1 1/2 cups since I wanted the caramel taste to come through stronger.   I think next time I might chop up a chocolate bar on top. Yummo! Nothing gets better than caramel & chocolate in my book!  One more thing, I used a combination of granny smith and fuji apples.  I thought the tartness of the granny smith apples complemented the overall sweetness of the 'salad' very well.


Needless to say, everyone approved of this salad, well everyone except my husband, but that's because he's not a big fruit kind of guy.  Put some bbq pulled pork in front of him and he's in heaven. I'll get to the bbq pulled pork that has dubbed me the title 'pit meister' another time just to keep you salivating!

Orzo smorzo, but oh so good!
I never know what to do with orzo.  Why use rice shaped pasta when you could just make rice?!  However, I have to say that rice probably wouldn't taste very good in this summer salad that I got from a friend, Lauren Schenke.  It was fantastic and my good friend and Aaron's Godmother, Erica, gave it "two thumbs up".   The picture below just doesn't to it justice.  One of these years I'll get a fancy SLR camera, but for now I have to maximize the functionality of my little point and shoot.

The heirloom tomatoes I got from the farmers market worked out great in this salad since they were firm enough that they didn't squish all over the place.  I used fresh raw corn, but realized after making the salad that I was probably supposed to cook it first.  Oh well, regardless it tasted great!


By the way, if you're ever looking for good recipes, go to myrecipes.com to find all those fantastic recipes published in Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, and others.  It's the first place I go for new recipes. No subscription or registration needed!

Orzo Salad with Corn, Tomatoes, & Basil (recipe link)
Cooking Light, JULY 2001

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

• DRESSING:
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  teaspoon  red wine vinegar
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 3  garlic cloves, crushed
• 
  SALAD:
• 1  cup  uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
• 2  cups  fresh yellow corn kernels (about 4 ears)
• 2  cups  chopped tomato
• 1/2  cup  vertically sliced red onion
• 1/4  cup  finely chopped fresh basil

Preparation

To prepare dressing, combine first 6 ingredients in a jar; cover tightly, and shake vigorously.

To prepare salad, cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, and place in a large bowl. Spoon half of dressing over pasta; toss to coat. Cool to room temperature. Add the remaining dressing, corn, tomato, onion, and basil to pasta; toss to coat. Let stand 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

312 (16% from fat)

Fat:

5.4g (sat 0.8g,mono 3g,poly 1.2g)

Protein:

10.1g

Carbohydrate:

59g

Fiber:

5.1g

Cholesterol:

0.0mg

Iron:

2.9mg

Sodium:

318mg

Calcium:

27mg

Cooking Light, JULY 2001