Minion Cupcakes

Tomorrow my biggest little man turns 5. What is that cheeseball saying again? The days are long but the years are quick? That's definitely been my experience. 

My kids and I recently just experienced the holidays with family stateside. While there, I'm pretty sure my kids and their cousins watched Despicable Me 2 about seven zillion times. Know how often we hear "bee doh bee doh bee doh" around here? Well, if you have littles who have seen this movie, you probably know what I'm talking about. Add on an uncle who is a firefighter and gave the kids a tour of the fire house and trucks, and, well, fireman minions are super popular. 

A friend made minion cupcakes (and a sweet purple minion cake) for her son's fifth birthday. My son saw them on Facebook and was smitten. We made some of the minions for his birthdayin class tomorrow. He's already selected which funny faces should be allocated to which friend. 

Step one, while the cupcakes are baking, assemble the minions. Our selections are rather slim here, so we used wintergreen Altoids and knock-off Twinkies. I'm not going to lie, I feel a little bad about a class of preschoolers biting into Altoids unsuspectingly tomorrow. I also kind of want to see their faces. Is that terrible of me?

Anywho, I used the black sparkle gel frosting which takes a bit to set up, so definitely get these started first. 

When your cakes are cool, slap some frosting on them. I am not a fan of canned frosting, this is a simple buttercream made with butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and a little sea salt. Dyed blue to match the minion overalls (plus blue is my son's favorite color). I added a little green because, well, I like blue green better. I used the little caulk gun-like device sold by Pampered Chef. 

 

If you like, add some sprinkles. Do it while the frosting is still freshly applied so they stick. I like sprinkles. They're not really that minion-like, but whatever. 

And last, nestle your minions in the frosting. Again, I would try to get them on before the frosting hardens for the best results. 

These puppies are tall, I'll be using a covered cake container to transport them. 

These are really a cinch to make, and my son has repeatedly told me how excited he is to share these with his friends. Totally worth it. 

Crockpot Pork Carnitas

A friend in my mom's group is a major fan of her crock pot. If it can be made in a crock pot, I bet she's done it. I'm with her on the crock pot love; it cuts down a lot of time in the kitchen, allowing me more time to keep my kids from burning the house down. Win.

This is her recipe, with a few tweaks (mostly due to my pantry constraints). My husband loved it, and I'm going to jump on the bandwagon there too. I left it mild in case my kids would actually eat some, but if it were just my husband and I, I would have kicked it up a few notches. 

The biggest surprise from cooking this was how amazing the onions turned out. Perfect. 

If you are like me, and using an American crock pot without a converter on lower voltage Japanese plug-ins, you may find you only cook on high. 

Crockpot Pork Carnitas

Ingredients:

1 onion, thinly sliced 

2-3 T extra virgin olive oil 

3-4 lb pork tenderloin or roast

1 can beef broth

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t smoked paprika

1 t chili powder

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper 

Put the onions in the bottom of the pot. Drizzle with the oil, then add the roast. Add the spices (salt and pepper the roast to taste). Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5. Or in my situation (see above), cook on high for 6-7 hours. 

This is the roast fully cooked. Shred it with two forks. Add the meat back to the onion and broth mix and cook an additional 30 minutes or so. 

Here's what the onions look like after the initial cook. 

Final product. YUM. You can maybe imagine how good it made the house smell. 

There are probably a thousand ways to serve this up. I made tacos by frying some corn tortillas and serving with beans, shredded cabbage, tomato, salsa, and sour cream. 

Homemade Mayo (in Under 5 Minutes!)

Homemade mayo seems ... well, maybe kind of silly at first. Why would I make mayo? That's something you buy at the store. Inexpensively too, I might add. Ain't nobody got time for that.

But maybe you read something about how good homemade mayo tastes. Or you are trying to eat more whole foods, and you finally read what's actually in that tub of goodness. 

Either way, you start researching and turns out, it kind of looks like a pain. Slowly drizzling oil into a food processor, separating eggs, sheesh. 

If you have a stick/immersion blender though, making your own (way tastier) mayo is super easy. And fast. And easy to clean up. You can tweak it to your hearts content, making spicy or smoky chipotle mayos, using whichever oil you choose, etc. 

This recipe is for a basic, tangy dijonaise-type mayo. Omit the mustard and switch out the apple cider vinegar for lemon juice and a little salt and pepper if you want it less tangy. 

Homemade Mayo

Ingredients:

1 egg (I like to wash the shell with soap and water but you don't have to)

1 T apple cider vinegar 

1 t Dijon mustard 

1 T water

1 c oil

Put everything but the oil into the immersion cup or a wide mouthed mason jar. 

Add the oil into the cup, let it sit a few seconds. 

Plunk the stick blender into the bottom of the cup, and turn it on.

You can bring the blender up a bit to get the last bit of oil into the emulsion if you like.

It should be done in about 15-20 seconds (seriously). It will be thinner than commercial mayo, if you like it thicker, you could use just the egg yolk.

Ta da!

What do you think?

If you need to make some Whole 30 compliant mayo, you will want to substitute mustard powder for the Dijon (Dijon mustard has white wine and sugar added). I've made it that way before, it's not quite as good in my honest opinion but still pretty tasty.

Hey, I know you are a grown-up and you know this, but remember that this is fresh. No preservatives. Which is good BUT it's not going to keep for two years in your fridge. Keep an eye on it.

New Beginnings

This post has no recipe. Just wanted to get that out of the way, so you can stop reading if you like.

So I mentioned in my last tomato leek (and feta! and tofu!) recipe that we moved. To Japan.  Specifically, we moved to the beautiful little subtropical island of Okinawa. From Alaska. To say the climate alone (negating the huge culture and lifestyle change) was different is a massive understatement. We left knee-deep snow and arrived to capri weather and palm trees. And a million percent humidity. But I digress.

What does this all have to do with a cooking blog? Well, you may see some mentions of strange-sounding ingredients. Or hear about my trials and tribulations deciphering food labels or finding good substitutes for things we don't have access to here. Otherwise though, like always my focus is fairly easy, good, healthy food for a family. So to all two of the people that maybe read this blog, keep reading. Share in our adventure on the other side of the world. It'll be fun!

Some of the local, fresh-caught fish choices at a market. We have had to say goodbye to our huge self-caught bounty of Alaskan salmon and halibut, but made some new friends. The blue fish are amazing.

More mystery ingredients at an open-air market for us to learn about. We have found that generally Okinawans will gladly explain what all of these goodies are.

This isn't Okinawa. I don't believe we ever really get fall here. This is a side trip to mainland Japan, in Nara, this fall. Fantastic fall foliage.

An Eisa drummer performing for Obon, warding off bad spirits from our home.

This is a little church at Zanpa. I think it's mostly utilized for destination weddings. Okinawa is a popular tourist destination for mainland Japanese. Maybe you can see why, it's kind of the Hawaii of Japan.

Tomato Leek Tart, Part 2 (With Tofu)

I keep coming back to this recipe. I haven't blogged in forever, in part due to moving to Japan, but that's beside the point. Leeks are in the markets very frequently here (quite a bit less often back in Alaska where we lived before), and so often when I see them, their crisp white and green selves beckoning beneath the tidy plastic parcel everything comes in here, I think of tomato leek tart.

I was at a shop down the road from my house and saw a huge bunch of leeks, and decided to make a couple tarts. Nevermind tomatoes are not at quite their best here lately. I didn't have the cheese my original recipe called for (people used to shopping in Japanese supermarkets will feel my pain on the cheese issue), so I modified the recipe. 

I also added a bit of protein in the form of tofu. Many of you will stop reading there. I promise, though, my tofu-loathing husband didn't know there was tofu in there until I told him. Try it, you may find you like it. 

Here are the bulk of the ingredients, all chopped up. If you use a stone, you definitely want the filling all prepared beforehand, as the crust will immediately begin to melt and then crisp when it's plopped on the hot stone.

Here we are assembled, ready for the sides to be tucked up. My second stoneware pan broke on my concrete floors here, so I had to sub a silpat-covered baking sheet. It still turned out fine.

All cooked. Moving to a new oven, which is now electric, and operating on slightly lower voltage that it was designed to, I found my stonewear-baked tart needed two extra minutes and the one on the cookie sheet needed another 1-2.

Again, you want to let it rest a bit before slicing so all the veggie juices don't run amok. 

Tomato Leek Tart, Part Two (With Tofu)

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated pie crusts

3 medium tomatoes, diced

3 leeks, thinly sliced

1/2 package firm tofu, cubed

1/2 c. Crumbled feta cheese

4 T. Grated Parmesan cheese

Garlic powder

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F. If using a pizza stone, preheat that as well. 

Unroll the pastry crusts and arrange 1/2 of each ingredient in an even layer in the center 3/4 of the crusts. Fold up the edges. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. 

Popcorn Cupcakes

Tomorrow is my baby's first birthday (sniff). I made some "practice cakes" for his daycare tomorrow in preparation for his circus birthday party on Saturday.

The idea was for the cupcakes to look like little sacks of popcorn. To make them, I alternated globs of yellow and white buttercream in a large ziplock bag, snipped a tiny hole in the corner, and started piping. The little cake liners are from Amazon, I was hoping a red and white stripe would resemble the old school popcorn bags.

I thought the ziplock made the kernels seem a bit more irregular and realistic than a regular piping bag would. Plus I don't have a piping bag as I am not that fancy.

After I did the first layer of kernels, the buttercream was getting a little warm from my hand so I put the cakes in the fridge for a bit. Then I piped on the second layer. You want your buttercream to be fairly dense so you can get the volume necessary to look like popcorn.

I think I mixed a little too much yellow in this batch. Too movie theater. It'll be better next time though, right?

Feta Bacon Chard Tart

I'm pretty sure I posted about a chard tart before. This one is loosely based off the last, but it's different. Why?

It has BACON!

I know you are still reading (well, assuming you aren't a vegetarian anyway).

Another awesome thing about this tart: I grew the chard in my my little garden, with help from my son.

Bragging is over, here's the recipe:

Feta Bacon Chard Tart

Ingredients

1 c. white flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. water

1 T oil (I used coconut oil)
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch chard, destemmed and chopped
1 1/2 t. dried basil
salt and pepper
4 slices thick pepper bacon (try the meat counter at your grocery or meat shop, they have great bacon that you can buy by the slice).

1/2 package cream cheese (I used light), softened
3 eggs
1/2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c. feta (I used a sun dried tomato variety)
1 T. sriracha (rooster) sauce

Combine flour and salt, mix in the oil and water and briefly mix until it starts to get a bit gluey (maybe a minute). Press into an even layer in a square pan and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 375

Heat the tablespoon of oil in a big, honkin' pan on medium heat. When it's hot, add the onion and sauté until mostly translucent. Add the garlic and the greens. Sauté until soft, another six minutes or so. Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper to taste and the basil.

While the veggies are cooking, fry the bacon over medium-high. Drain on a paper towel and chop.

Mix the eggs, cream cheese (I microwaved it about 10 seconds beyond room temperature so it would mix easily), cheeses, and rooster sauce.

Add the veggies and bacon, mix well, and spread evenly over the crust. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Let cool, serve warm or room temperature.

Hummus

Here's my recipe for just a basic and quick little hummus. Today I ate some for lunch; I served it with baby carrots and cucumbers (dressed with seasoned rice vinegar and salt/pepper) as dippers and with sides of spinach salad and some leftover couscous salad.

You pretty much need a food processor for this, but you could probably use a blender too (especially if you are fancy and have a Vitamix or something).

Hummus

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 T. tahini (sesame butter)
about 3 T. lemon juice
3 big cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
about 1/4 c. olive oil

In the bowl of the food processor, dump the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and pepper. Turn on processor.

Once the beans start to get smashed, start drizzling the oil in slowly through the top opening. Stop as soon as the hummus starts looking creamy and smooth.

If your oil likes to pour fast, drizzle a bit then stop and judge before adding more incrementally so you don't over-oil your yummy hummus.

Bell Pepper Antipasto

I made some impulse purchases at Costco this week. I went with my mom, mostly for the conversation, and left with $50 of crap. How does this happen?

Anyway, one of my purchases was a big old bag of bell peppers. I'm not a pepper fan usually, but these looked good.

I made antipasto for the first time with them. You could use these on pizza, with crackers and cheese, gulped down by the handful ... trust me, I'm not a bell lover but these are tasty. Just don't over cook.

Oh, and these were especially lovely on a little turkey sandwich I made on a pretzel slider bun (also spontaneously purchased at Costco).

Bell Pepper Antipasto

Ingredients:
3 bell peppers (I used one each of ref, yellow, and orange), seeded and chopped into thin strips
1.5 T. coconut oil (olive would be fine)
Salt and pepper
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. garlic powder (or 2-3 garlic cloves, minced)
1.5 T. red wine vinegar

Heat a big pan over medium, add the coconut oil. When it's hot and melted, add the peppers, herbs and garlic powder, then salt and pepper to taste.

Sautée until peppers are just cooked. Turn off heat, stir in the vinegar.

Let peppers hang out, preferably at room temperature, for about an hour. Eat or cover and refrigerate to serve later.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Sounds funky, right? This is an adaptation of a Moosewood recipe. It's good, and it's a great way to get some protein without eating meat, if you so desire. You can sub in whatever veggies sound good to you (or whatever you have on hand), just make sure to dice them small.

Cottage Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

About 4 c. cottage cheese
1/2 English cucumber, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 green onion, chopped
About 3 T. lemon juice
1/3 c. craisins (dried cranberries)
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 hard boiled eggs, salted and diced

Combine all ingredients, adjusting lemon juice, salt, and pepper to your liking. Cover tightly and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.
Salt and pepper to taste

Cherry Rhubarb Pie

Holy cow, my local grocery store had a huge cherry sale this week! Believe me when I tell you that this never happens. I may have overbought. So ... I made this. And it was GOOD.

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts
3 large rhubarb stalks, chopped
3 cups of cherries, pitted
1 c. sugar
1/2 t. almond extract
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
2 T. tapioca
1/4 c. lime juice

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix everything but the crust together in a large bowl, let it sit for 15 minutes.

Place one crust in a large pie pan, and fill it with the contents of your large bowl. Lattice the top (or just make a full 2-crust pie if you don't want to deal with a lattice).

Cover the edges with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool and serve.

Dinner Tonight

What's for dinner tonight? We did a quick and easy one, with lots of fresh veggies that are starting to hit our local produce aisle.

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Salmon
Corn on the Cob
Sautéed Zuchini
Salad

Creamy Tomato-Chard Pasta

This is an easy vegetarian (though not vegan) recipe. It's nice and light and fresh-tasting and perfect for summer. You can sub any green leafy for the chard; just remember, the "woodier" the green (like chard or kale) the longer it will need cooking. Delicate leafies like spinach don't take long at all, so start the onions in advance with those. Substitute fresh tomatoes if you have high quality ones available to you.

Creamy Tomato-Chard Pasta

Ingredients

About 1 pound of pasta, cooked al dente per package instructions
1 T. oil
1 package (or bunch) chard, washed, de-stemmed, and chopped
1/4 large onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes, semi-drained (the tomatoes don't have to be bone dry, just not swimming in juice)
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/2 t. dried basil
salt and pepper

While your pasta is cooking, add the oil to a large pan. Add the onion and saute a minute or two, then add the chard and garlic. Saute until the chard is tender, maybe 7-9 minutes. This will take a lot longer if you didn't get all the stems out. Add the tomatoes, basil and cheese, stir, and cook until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in the yogurt. Salt and pepper to taste, then mix in the pasta.

Thanks to food.com for the inspiration for this recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

So I'm still on the springtime slough and I had Mother's Day on the horizon. Eeps, what's a girl to do? I needed to save some calories for cupcakes and champagne, so I found this super yummy recipe on Skinny Taste. It was good. The Buffalo flavor was very mild; if I was making it at home for just my family I think I would add a bit more buffalo sauce. The best thing about it was it was sooooo easy--just toss everything in the crockpot in the morning, no fussing over food on Mother's Day. Yay! I tweaked the recipe just a bit, mostly to accomodate a crowd. I also didn't offer blue cheese or blue cheese dressing--again, priorities! I wanted a cupcake BAD. If you read the recipe, you can see why.

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 celery stalk
1/2 onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
about 2 c. chicken stock/broth
1 c. Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce (or Buffalo sauce of your choosing)

1 bag baby carrots
4 stalks celery
1 head lettuce

Spray some Pam around your crockpot and add the chicken. Lightly salt and pepper it, then cover with broth. Add the onion, garlic, and celery stalk and cook on high for four hours.

Remove the chicken from the crockpot and shred with two forks. Keep about 1 cup of the liquid in the crockpot and return the chicken to it (don't throw the rest away--use it to make an amazing soup later in the week or freeze it for later. I'm doing crock pot chicken and dumplings with mine).

Add the Buffalo sauce and return the lid to the pot, cook an additional 30 minutes.

Run the carrots and celery through the food processor grater (or grate by hand if you prefer, but mind your knuckles). Remove lettuce leaves as best as you can to keep them big. To serve, have guests choose their leaves, top with chicken and with the carrot/celery mix. Enjoy!

Apricot-Blueberry Champagne Cocktail

I made these for Mother's Day this year, too. Less sweet than a mimosa but still light enough for brunch. Champagne is a funny alcohol; when you mix it, you add mixers first and the champagne second. Weird. But delicious.

Apricot-Blueberry Champagne Cocktail

Ingredients:
Apricot nectar (I used Santa Cruz Organics brand, from the natural foods section)
Blueberries, thawed from frozen or fresh
Dry champagne

In a champagne flute, put 3-4 blueberries (if using wild blueberries, add a few more as they are quite petite) in the bottom of the glass. Add apricot nectar to about 3/4" up from the bottom. Muddle the berries a bit in the nectar, then fill the glass the rest of the way with champagne. Enjoy!

Whenever I hear the word 'champagne' I think of the movie Wayne's World. Anybody else?

Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream

For Mother's Day this year, I made these yummy cupcakes. My mom and I are big lemon fans (make that superfans), and the rest of the family just had to suffer along. These are pretty tasty; my only beef is that the cupcakes were a tad TOO lemony (did I just write that?). The recipe calls for an entire lemon's worth of zest and juice, and my lemon was pretty epic. When I make these again, I think I will use either a smaller lemon or just half a large lemon's worth.

Lemon Cupcakes with Blackberry Buttercream

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter (1 stick), softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 3/4 t. baking powder
1/2 c. milk
1 lemon, zest and juice

Buttercream:
1 c. butter, softened
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. sea salt
4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. (or more, to taste) seedless blackberry jam

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin cups with paper liners

Cream sugar and a stick of butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. Mix well.

Add flour and baking powder and stir until combined. Add milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix well. The lemon may make the mixture separate a bit, but the batter should shape up fine.

Put batter into the cups, 2/3-3/4 full (these cupcakes are on the denser side, so you shouldn't have to worry about runaway cakes). Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.

Beat the remaining two sticks of butter with the 1 t. of vanilla and salt (start with a little salt and add to taste), until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. If it starts to get a little thick, you can thin it with a tablespoon or so of milk. Beat in the blackberry jam.

Chicken Enchilada Soup -- Crock Pot Style

This is another recipe inspired by Skinny Taste. My husband requested something in the crock pot today as we are on the cusp of (another) super-busy week and he likes having food he can just grab out of the fridge. He's also one of those people that can eat the same thing over and over, so crock pot recipes are ideal as they usually make a ton of food.


I broke my cardinal rule of cooking, which is to ALWAYS saute the onions before putting them into anything. Again, I was pressed for time. And it's good in pico de gallo, so hopefully it will be good here.

Chicken Enchilada Soup, Crock Pot Style

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 c. chicken stock or broth
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 T sriracha (Rooster) sauce*
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (you can substitute a cup of pre-soaked beans if you prefer)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can corn, drained
1 t cumin
1/2 t dried oregano
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
about 1/4 c. cilantro, torn apart or chopped

Put all the ingredients into the crockpot. If you have time, saute the onions first in a teaspoon or so of oil. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the chicken. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours. Before serving, shred the chicken with two forks. Adjust seasoning.

Serve in bowls, garnished with shredded cheese, more cilantro, sour cream, and/or crushed tortilla chips. The soup is a thinner-based soup, so if you like a creamier soup, crush some tortilla chips and add at the beginning, or thicken with a tablespoon or two of flour or corn starch if you like.

Here's an in-progress shot. The soup is about half-cooked, and the onions are the same.

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

You know what's awesome? Stuffed cabbage. This is a big stuffed cabbage slop, minus most of the prep work. Plus cheese. I adapted another Skinny Taste recipe for this, and it was very good!

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Ingredients:
4 t. olive oil, divided
1 onion, finely chopped
1 c. chopped carrots
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground beef
1 head cabbage, cored and chopped
1/2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. paprika
1 t. sugar
salt and pepper
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 large can/jar spaghetti sauce (28 oz or so)
2 c. cooked brown rice
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Spray some Pam on a large rectangular baking dish

Put half the olive oil in a large frying pan. When it's hot, sautee the onion and carrot over medium heat. When the onion starts to get translucent, add the ground beef, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until the beef is browned. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, thyme, paprika, and sugar.

While that simmers, heat up the oil in a large dutch oven. Add the cabbage and stir, cooking the cabbage until it's about half-cooked, about 15 minutes.

Remove the sauce and cabbage from heat. Stir the rice into the meat/tomato mixture.

Put half the cabbage down in an even layer in the baking dish. Add half the tomatoes, then the remaining cabbage, and then the last of the beef mixture. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil, add the cheese (you could easily use less) and cook an additional 15 minutes uncovered.

Skinny Chocolate Chip Scones

I've neglecting my poor little blog; I mentioned earlier this month that it's the springitme slough here at my house, and I guess I've just been busy, well, sloughing. Anyway I've been exploring a few new recipe websites and I've really been enjoying Skinny Taste in particular. I was looking for a quick breakfast I could grab for me and the kids, and this fit the bill. It's actually pretty delicious, which is hard to believe considering it's a low-fat, whole grain scone. The only change I made to this recipe was how I put it together. I am lazy and don't enjoy cutting butter into flour for pastries, so I use my food processor. Works great (try it with pie crust!).

Skinny Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cold buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp chilled butter (must be cold) cut into small pieces
3/4 cup chocolate chips  
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 375°. If you are using a stonewear baking sheet like I did, preheat it with the oven.

Combine the first four ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, in the food processor bowl. Dot the butter around the bowl, then pulse just until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Remove blade and gently fold in chocolate chips. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist.

Give the dough a few turns around the bowl with your hands, then press it into a 9-inch circle onto baking sheet, about 3/4" thick. Use a knife or pizza cutter to pre-slice the dough into 8-12 scones.

Brush with egg white, then sprinkle the sugar on. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Ginger Soy Salmon Nuggets

It's time for the spring time slim down at our house. This recipe is a Weight Watchers recipe, altered for what kind of ingredients I had on hand. If you are a WW fan, about three of these nuggets equal two points. If you are not a WW person, this recipe is still really good. My husband is a fan (no, he was not told the recipe was from WW). I served them over quinoa, with some steamed broccoli on the side. It's quick, it's easy, it's flavorful, it's filling. What more could you ask for?

Ginger Soy Salmon Nuggets

Ingredients:
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. rice wine vinegar
1 t. cornstarch
2 tsp. fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced or pressed
1 pound salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 1" (or so) cubes
1 t. (I used a bit more) sesame oil
3 green onions, sliced thin

Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch, ginger, and garlic in a bowl. Add the cubed salmon and stir to coat. Let sit for 30 minutes to an hour if you have time.

While the salmon marinates, start your water if you are doing a starch, then start the water in the steamer for a side veggie if you are planning one. While you cook your other foods, stir the salmon occasionally to distribute the marinade.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat (if you don't use Teflon pans, you will need more oil than this). When it's hot, dump the bowl of salmon, including the sauce, into the pan. Stir occasionally (too much and you run the risk of smashing your fish), until salmon is opaque inside and starts to brown. Remove from heat, serve hot. Serve with green onions on top.