Blue Ballet Squash w/ Pine Nuts

Posted on November 21, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

1/2 cooked blue ballet squash (a whole one makes much too much)
1/2 cup milk
8 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
6 oz toasted pine nuts
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger

I cooked my squash in the microwave. Cut it in half and remove seeds. Wrap one half in plastic wrap and cook on high for about nine minutes. Scoop flesh out of the shell into a large bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, distributing the pine nuts as evenly as possible. Makes an excellent side dish with roasted fowl. Can also be used as a ravioli filling.

Note: Add 1/4 cup of dried cranberries for a sweet burst of flavor

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Cream Cheese Ice Cream

Posted on November 13, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

Who knew that when my kitchen is clean I can’t help but dirty it up immediately? LOL! Now I need to start making something more substantial than ice cream or sorbet. One can not live on dessert alone – though we can try.

I found the bones of this recipe online and added a few small changes to suit my tastes. I used almond extract instead of vanilla because my mom always made cheese cake with almond extract. I grew up with that flavor profile in my head. It’s how cheese cake should taste – at least to me. This ice cream is smooth and velvety and tastes exactly like frozen cheese cake. Top it off with cherries, strawberries or my favorite blackberries and you have a dessert you won’t want to share. *grin*

Cream Cheese Ice Cream

8oz whipped cream cheese
3/4 cup fine sugar
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup whole milk
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp almond extract

Mix cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and almond extract together until smooth. Slowly add milk and half and half, stirring continuously to blend. Pour into ice cream machine and mix according to the machine’s instructions. Freeze ice cream at least two hours before serving.

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Pear Ginger Honey Mead Sorbet

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored & cubed
2 cups hot water
4 packets of instant pre-sweetened ginger tea (I used T.A.S. brand from the Asian Market)
1 cup semi-sweet Honey Mead

Puree pears, water and ginger tea powder in blender. Add mead. Chill until cold in refrigerator. Pour into ice cream/sorbet machine according to the machine’s instructions.

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Almond Cardamon Ice Cream

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

I love the unique flavor and fragrance of cardamon but never know what to do with it. After recently seeing a recipe for a lemon cardamon cake and attempting to make a version of it myself (it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped) I decided to do something I know I do well instead of bake – make ice cream. I decided against lemon for the ice cream and went with almond instead. I think it was a good choice. The almond extract complements the floral flavor of the cardamon without overpowering the delicate nature of the spice.

Almond Cardamon Ice Cream

1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp ground cardamon
2 cups half and half
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup fine sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (I use a 4 cup glass measuring cup because it has a pour spout) until the sugar is dissolved. Pour base into ice cream maker according to the machine’s instructions and churn until set. Pour finished ice cream into a freezer proof container (I use Pyrex now because the glass stays colder and doesn’t impart other flavors) and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.

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Greek Tzatziki Sauce

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

Since my diet is limited due to yeast overgrowth, I’m now making my own multi-purpose sauce/dressing for meats and veggies. This Greek cucumber sauce is very tasty.

1 cup Greek yogurt
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 small cucumber, diced, seeded & drained
1 tsp fresh or dried dill
Salt & pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients other than yogurt in a food processor. Drain liquid off, if mixture is too wet. Add to yogurt in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving with seasoned meat (beef, lamb, chicken) or vegetables. Also makes a good salad dressing substitute.

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Pumpkin (or Squash) Soup

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

24 oz  cooked and pureed pumpkin (I use frozen squash)
32 oz chicken or vegetable broth
1 medium sweet onion
1 pint heavy cream
1 Tsp olive oil
Salt, pepper & nutmeg to taste

Dice onion and saute in bottom of midsized saucepan with oil. Cook onion until it is translucent and tender. Add pumpkin, broth, salt and pepper. Simmer for ten to fifteen minutes or until soup is heated through and bubbling nicely. Stir often to prevent burning. Take off heat and stir in heavy cream. Grate fresh nutmeg into soup right before serving (or use about 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg). Pureeing it in a blender for a smoother texture is optional.

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Cream Cheese Pie Pastry

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 oz. softened cream cheese
3 Tbs butter

Sift together the dry ingredients, cutting in the butter, and working in the cream cheese. For a traditional crust, roll out 2/3 of dough and line a 9 inch pie tin. Roll out the rest to fit over top of tin. Chill well before filling the crust with desired filling.

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Pinto Beans with Smoked Chicken

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

One of my favorite hearty winter meals from my childhood was my mom’s pinto beans with Indian fry bread. I experimented with smoked chicken and came up with the following recipe. I don’t make fry bread but it’s good with dinner rolls, too.

1 qt chicken broth
2 cups dry pinto beans, sorted & rinsed but not soaked
1 1/2 cups diced smoked chicken, including skin if you like the texture (which I do!)
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbs yellow mustard
1 tsp Tabasco optional

Put broth and beans in saucepan, add garlic and onion. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cook on low for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so. Add chicken and let simmer some more. After about 2 hours, the beans should be nice and soft. Add mustard and simmer for another couple of hours, stirring occasionally. To get to the perfect consistency, summer for a total of four hours (though it can be eaten  once the beans are cooked through). It’s better the next day, with or without fry bread! Also can be made in a crock pot (which my mom did; I don’t have one, though).

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Rose Petal Sorbet

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

OMG! Numi makes a tea called White Rose that’s one of my favorite indulgences (it’s kinda pricey and has a bit of caffeine but so very worth both). I bought a box of it not too long ago and had been very sparingly drinking it. Yesterday I was a little bored with my normal ice cream flavors (though the banana ice cream was yummy and Kaluha is a universal favorite!) and fruit sorbets so I thought I’d go with a tea. I plucked the White Rose from the shelf and had just enough tea bags left to make sorbet. I made the tea and sweetened it last night, keeping it in the refrigerator overnight so it was nice and cold tonight when I went to make the sorbet. It is so good that it should be illegal!! Better than green tea and the Earl Gray and I think I like it better than the lavender sorbet, too (though the lavender is still the prettiest sorbet with it’s pale pink color – I wish the photo I found online showcased it’s color). The White Rose tea always gave me that warm, happy feeling and the sorbet makes me feel the same way only in cold form instead of hot. Very, very nice! I also have a box of Numi Ginger Sun (lemon ginger decaf green) and will probably try that as a sorbet sometime soon. And I’m intrigued by the idea of black olive ice cream so that may be in my future as well (though after the goat cheese ice cream fiasco, maybe not. I finally ended up making seafood chowder out of the goat cheese ice cream – it turned out pretty well, though a little sweet).

White Rose Sorbet

6 bags of Numi White Rose Tea
3 1/2 cups almost boiling water
1/4 cup honey
3 Tbs vodka

Steep tea bags in hot water for about six minutes, remove tea bags. Add honey and vodka to the tea. Stir well to dissolve the honey. Chill in refrigerator until cold, at least two hours. Pour tea into ice cream maker according to the machine’s instructions.

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Tomato Free Italian Vegetable Sauce

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Vandy Roadifer

I’m allergic to tomatoes so my ND suggested this recipe to me as a substitute for tomato sauce. If I’m up to it, tomorrow I’m gonna pour it over eggplant and bake it. Too bad I can’t have cheese or bread crumbs at the moment because I think it’d make a great Eggplant Parmesan.

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 medium beet, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
salt to taste
pepper to taste

in a medium sauce pan, add garlic and onion. Cook on low until onion is soft and translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on medium until vegetables are soft and a little mushy. Pour into a blender and mix until smooth. Add more salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot over pasta, rice or your favorite cooked vegetables.

Variation: I returned the puree to the stove, added an extra cup of chicken stock, Italian sausage and 6oz of diced mushrooms and simmered it until sausage was cooked. Absolutely Fabulous!

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