Happy 4th of July!

I found an awesome, super-easy recipe for Fruit Pizza on Allrecipes.com that I thought would be perfect for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. I love a good dessert and anything with fruit, I'm sold on.

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (I used neufchatel cheese for less fat)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used 1 teaspoon)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth. Mix in egg. combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Press dough into an ungreased pizza pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until light. Spread on cooled crust.

Arrange desired fruit on top of filling, and chill. I used strawberries and bluberries for a festive 4th of July theme. Enjoy!

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Spring is in the Air!

With the time change and the first day of Spring this past Sunday, I've been in the mood for baking. I stumbled on this delish recipe for blueberry muffins in the March issue of Woman's Day magazine.

 
Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins

from Woman's Day Magazine

Active Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 35 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup whole milk (I used skim milk)
1 large egg, beaten
6 oz fresh blueberries (1 1/2 cups)

Recipe Preparation

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or coat with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup of the sugar; make a well in the center.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it melts, swirl the pan until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty, 2 to 3 minutes; remove from heat.

4. Pour the butter, milk and egg into the well of flour and stir to combine (a few lumps in the batter are OK—don’t overmix); fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter among the muffin cups; sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 16 to 20 minutes. Let cool before unmolding.

These are so good that all of your neighbors and co-workers will want to know your recipe. Be sure to bring enough for everyone!

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Berry Strata

My favorite part about Christmas is the food! When I was younger, I would wait not-so-patiently in the front of the oven for the gooey cinnamon rolls to rise, so I could get breakfast over with. Cinnamon rolls on Christmas was our family breakfast tradition before tearing through our piles of presents. In recent years I've been spending Christmas morning with my boyfriend's family and we usually do different breakfast items each year (cinnamon rolls are still on the list though).

This year I found a Berry Strata recipe from Italian chef, Giada in the January issue of In Style magazine. The recipe looked simple enough and the end product looked delicious, so we decided to give it a try. Here is the recipe:

Berry Strata
(serves 6 with leftovers)

Ingredients
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp honey
4 large eggs
1/2 c. whole-milk ricotta (or skim)
3 tbsp sugar
1 c. whole milk (or skim)
1/4 c. orange juice
4 slices bread, torn into 1" pieces
1 10 oz. bag frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

Directions
1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat, add honey and stir. Set aside.
2. Place eggs, ricotta and sugar in a large bowl. Using a fork, mix to combine and beat eggs. Add milk, orange juice, butter and honey mixture, and then add bread. Stir to combine. Gently fold in berries.
3. Pour mixture into a two-quart baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 12.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake strata until golden on top and baked through, about 40 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Spoon into dishes and serve.

End product - delicious!

I wanted to take photos of the process along the way, but didn't have my new camera at the time (it was waiting to be unwrapped. The BF did great!). The nice thing about this recipe is that you can substitute many items for lower fat versions, therefore making it healthier. It's also good for a winter brunch with friends - you can make the night before, refrigerate and pop it in the oven in the morning.

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'Tis the Season

This last Saturday, my boyfriend and I hosted a holiday cocktail party at our house. It was my first "grown-up" cocktail party, and I was excited to entertain all of our friends at our quaint little townhouse. I had to make a spreadsheet to organize all the necessities we needed and I know I was driving Jon absolutely crazy stressing over every little detail (sorry babe). Jon put together the food platters containing everything from Genoa salami, vegetable crudites and chips with salsa. I would say he put any caterer to shame with his outstanding presentation skills. My contribution were the fudge brownies, red velvet cupcakes and Christmas-shaped sugar cookies - Yes, I had to cheat and used the boxed stuff because there simply wasn't enough time to go scratch for everything. I wanted to post pictures of the outcome, but unfortunately it's time to replace my point-and-shoot camera (Santa, are you listening?).

One item on my drink menu was to find some kind of cocktail using gin. I feel vodka and gin are a must-have for any party and can be used interchangeably. While searching on All Recipes for different cocktail drinks, I came across a great one for gin sangria. I thought it was a little odd at first to pair gin with white wine, but I gave it my best shot. Two pitchers later, my guests could not get enough. This is a great drink to make anytime of the year and especially if you're entertaining guests:

Not just for summer days

Lisa's Super Sangria

Ingredients
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 1/2 cups gin
2 (750 milliliter) bottles dry white wine (such as Chardonnay)
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed
1/2 cup tonic water
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds (from a fresh pomegranate)

Directions
Arrange the lemon, lime, and orange slices in the bottom of a pitcher or punch bowl. Pour the gin over the fruit slices; cover. Refrigerate overnight.

Just before serving, pour the wine, orange juice, cranberry concentrate, tonic water, and pomegranate seeds into the gin; stir. Enjoy!

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Goin' Bananas

I always feel bad for the over-ripened bananas that are constantly being thrown out around our place week after week. Although we send them off to the compost bin where the worms happily munch them away, I still don't like wasting food. This past Saturday I decided to save a pile of organic bananas that were past their prime. I found the following recipe for a delicious banana bread on Allrecipes.com :

  

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed over ripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.                                                                                                                                         

Yield - 1 9x5 inch loaf pan

I adjusted the recipe a little bit with the following: 1 c. light brown sugar (what I had in my cabinet) and  4 med. mashed over ripe bananas. Also, depending on your oven the bread may not need to be baked as long as the directions indicate. I let mine go for 60 minutes and it was a little toasty around the edges, but the flavor was great. I think for the next batch I may add in some walnuts and raisins for more texture.

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Pancake Love

Since my boyfriend and I were headed to the baseball stadium to watch the Padres take on the Giants this afternoon, I thought pancakes would be a perfect start to our day. I found this delectable recipe in a recent Vegetarian Times magazine for White Pig Blueberry pancakes. Named for a bed and breakfast and animal sanctuary in Virginia, the innkeeper is an animal-rights activist, and this delicious recipe is 100% vegan.

Check out The White Pig here

Now, I know what you're thinking: how good can pancakes without cow's milk or eggs really be? I'm telling you, these are some of the best pancakes I've ever eaten. And that's saying a lot, as I consider myself somewhat of a pancake expert (you get that title when you makes boxed pancakes every Sunday for your whole family). All kidding aside, even my more cooking-inclined boyfriend told me these tasty little cakes were better than any breakfast diner he's ever had . He could be bias, but I think the heart shape may have made them just that much better. ♥ ♥ ♥

Make these light, fluffy pancakes for yourself, click here

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