Green Grape Salad

I don't have an interesting story to go with this recipe, but just wanted to share this easy delicious salad. It makes a great dessert too! Use light cream cheese and sour cream for a low fat treat!

Green Grape Salad 

prep: 15 minutes

servings 8

4 pounds seedless green grapes

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces chopped pecans

2 tablespoon brown sugar

Wash and dry grapes. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Add grapes and mix until evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with brown sugar and pecans, mix again and refrigerate until serving.

Source: www.allrecipes.com

Fried Okra Salad

Fried okra, or okry as I have heard it pronounced in the deep south, is a southern classic. It is one of my mom's favorite foods so we ate quite a lot of it growing up. There are other ways to prepare okra besides frying. It is delicious added to gumbo, stewed with tomatoes, or pickled.  But in my opinion, it is best fried! By now I am sure you know that I often alter recipes to make them healthier when possible. I have tried baking okra instead of deep frying, but it didn't turn out well. So I just enjoy this delicious veggie in moderation without any guilt.

I came across this recipe in a Paula Deen magazine and thought it sounded interesting. The sweet and sour dressing is so yummy with the okra. Even people who don't normally like fried okra really enjoy this salad.

Buon Appetito!

Fried Okra Salad

serves 6

1 ½ pound breaded frozen okra

Vegetable oil for frying

2 large tomatoes, seeded and chopped

½ green bell pepper, diced
1 bunch green onions, diced

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

½ cup vegetable oil (I like to use olive oil)

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup distilled white vinegar

Fry okra in vegetable oil according to package directions: drain on paper towels.

In a medium bowl, combine okra, tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions, and bacon.

In a small saucepan, combine oil, sugar, and vinegar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves. Pour over okra mixture, tossing gently to coat. Serve immediately.

Banana Foster Ice-Cream Pastry

I have always thought that banana foster looked delicious. Many of the recipes I have seen for this dessert call for dark rum and sometimes banana liqueur to be added and then lit on fire. I am sure it makes for an impressive display. The only problem is that I don't keep rum or banana liqueur on hand and am too cheap to buy it for an occasional recipe. When I saw this recipe in Southern Living magazine I knew I had to try it since it didn't call for alcohol. I have had the recipe for a long time just waiting for the perfect time to make it since it needs to be made and eaten immediately.

We are going to Ireland with some friends this week and at one of our planning meetings I made this dessert. I am not really into planning trips. I just want someone to tell me when and where to show up, and I will be there. I thought that my contribution to the meeting could be some yummy dessert. Everyone loved it! Southern Living seldom disappoints and this is no exception.

Banana Foster Ice Cream Pastry

Source: Southern Living Magazine September 2008

Serves 4

½ cup chopped pecans

½ (17.3 oz.) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed*

Parchment Paper

¼ cup butter

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 T. orange juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

4 bananas, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices

Vanilla ice cream  

1.       Preheat oven to 350°. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 5 minutes. Remove from oven, and increase oven temperature to 400°.

2.       Unfold 1 puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 10-inch square, carefully smoothing creases. Cut into 4 (4 to 5 inch) circles using a cutter. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

3.       Bake at 400° for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and puffed.

4.       Heat butter and sugar in large nonstick skillet over low. Heat 2 minutes or until sugar is melted. Add orange juice, next 3 ingredients, and 1 Tbsp. water to skillet. Cook, whisking constantly, 2 minutes or until mixture is blended and smooth. Add bananas, and cook 1 minute.

5.       Arrange pastry rounds on serving plates. Top each with about ½ cup banana mixture and ½ cup ice cream. Drizzle with any remaining sauce. Sprinkle with toasted pecans, and serve immediately.

*Frozen puff pastry shells may be substituted for frozen puff pastry sheets.

Mrs. Patsy's Chicken Salad

This southern girl loves some chicken salad, but I don't love how traditional chicken salad recipes are loaded with fat. Mayonnaise is very fattening and when paired with a buttery croissant, a chicken salad sandwich can sabotage a healthy diet. Speaking of croissants, have you ever cooked or watched someone make them? If you have, I am sure you were as shocked as I was at the amount of butter used. Croissants look so light, fluffy, and totally innocent, but a 3 oz. croissant has 270 calories and 17 grams of fat! I assure you that the law of conservation of matter which states, "mass cannot be created or destroyed", applies to croissants. All that butter goes somewhere, and for me, it’s "through the lips, straight to the hips". 

Never fear! You can still enjoy delicious chicken salad without the guilt. Here are a few tips on how to make traditional chicken salad healthier.

• White meat contains less fast than dark meat, so try using white meat instead.
• Use light mayo. It has 1/2 the fat of regular mayo.
• Adding fresh fruit like grapes or pineapple to chicken salad adds bulk and flavor with no fat.
• Dried fruit, like raisins or craisins, are good options as well, but are higher in calories than fresh fruit.
• Add nuts for extra protein, fiber, and antioxidants. Nuts are high in fat so be careful about how much you add.
• Eliminate the bread and serve on a bed of lettuce instead. You can cut approximately 250 calories by simply substituting lettuce for the bread.
• If you really want bread, try pita bread (my favorite way to eat chicken salad) or a low fat flat bread, but beware of flat bread. It looks healthy but can pack as much as 9 grams of fat per piece!

This recipe is from my bff's mom, Mrs. Patsy. I got this recipe from her about 15 years ago, and it is still my favorite chicken salad recipe. It is perfect for summertime, and I like to serve it when I have friends over for lunch. Every time I make it, I have requests for the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Buon Appetito!

Mrs. Patsy's Chicken Salad

2 1/2 cups cooked chicken

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup green grapes, halved

2 T. fresh parsley

1/2 cup mayo

1 T. lemon juice

1T. cider vinegar

1 1/2 T. mustard

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix together. Chill. If you like your salad wetter simply add more of the last 7 ingredients.



Baklava

In America, churches are abundant. In the south, where I grew up, there seems to be a church on every corner. Before moving to Italy, I wondered what type of church we would find. I was very surprised and relieved to find a thriving protestant chapel community on base.  I grew up Southern Baptist and have always attended SB churches. The chapel is definitely different than any church I have ever attended.

Military chaplains are required to serve all denominations including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, even Wiccans, and many more. They do not have to officiate services for religions that they don't agree with, but must offer resources if requested. Our chapel has Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Church of Christ services. We attend the Sunday morning protestant service, and I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to worship and serve alongside other Christians of all protestant denominations. We all desire to serve the Lord of creation, and although we have some different beliefs we can still worship our Lord in unity. In my opinion, as long as we agree on biblical salvation, most other issues are not worth dividing over.

You may be wondering what this has to do with Baklava. I am getting there. We truly appreciate the opportunity to attend services at the base chapel and be involved in ministry there, but we miss participating in a small group like a community group or Sunday School. So a few of our friends have gotten together and started a small community group. We meet weekly and watch sermons by Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. He is a young, jean wearing, no holds barred preacher that teaches biblical truth. He isn't concerned with being politically correct or watering down scripture for the fear of offending anyone. He preaches about the depravity of the human soul and how we are all in desperate need of Jesus, but also preaches about the love and grace of God. He is very engaging, and we are really enjoying his messages. Even my 15 year old son enjoys listening to him. You can listen or watch his sermons at  http://www.marshill.com/ .


Ok, now to the Baklava. Each week at small group we have a themed potluck meal. Since most of the restaurants here in Italy only serve Italian food it is nice to occasionally enjoy other types of cuisine. A couple of weeks ago the theme was Greek. My husband suggested that I attempt to make Baklava which is a sweet pastry type dessert filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with a honey syrup. I was first introduced to Baklava when my son's teacher made it for a class party last year. I happened to have a recipe that a lady in my bible study emailed me a few months ago so decided to give it a try. It really wasn't difficult at all. Phyllo dough makes up the flaky crust and is a cinch to use. It is a really simple recipe and super yummy.

Kale Orexi!!

Baklava

Makes 32 pieces

Baklava
12 oz. pistachios, walnuts, or almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 16-oz. pkg. phyllo dough, thawed
10 oz. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Honey Syrup
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey
Zest of 1 lemon, removed with vegetable peeler


To make Baklava:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread nuts on baking sheet, and toast in oven 6 minutes. Cool.

2. Pulse nuts, sugar, and cinnamon in food processor 8 to 10 times, or until finely chopped. Set aside. (I don't have a food processor, but I used a cuisinart electric chopper and it worked just fine)

3. Brush 13- x 9-inch metal baking pan with butter. (I used a pottery type casserole dish and it seemed to work well)
• Line with 2 phyllo sheets; brush phyllo with butter.

• Repeat 4 more times, or until you have 5 layers of 2 phyllo sheets each (10 sheets total).
• Sprinkle with one-third of nut mixture.

• Top with 2 phyllo sheets, brush with butter, and repeat phyllo layering 2 more times (6 sheets total).
• Sprinkle with one-third of nut mixture. Top with 2 phyllo sheets, brush with butter, and repeat phyllo layering 2 more times (6 sheets total).
• Sprinkle with remaining one-third of nut mixture. Top with 2 phyllo sheets, brush with butter, and repeat phyllo layering 2 more times (6 sheets total).
• Lay 1 phyllo sheet on top, brush with butter, then lay last phyllo sheet on top, and brush with butter.
• Chill 10 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut Baklava into 16 squares with knife. Cut each square into 2 triangles or for larger dessert-size serving, leave in squares.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until top is golden brown.

To make Honey Syrup:

5. Combine sugar, honey, lemon zest, and 1 cup water in small saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Remove lemon zest, and pour syrup over hot Baklava. Cool on wire rack.

6. To serve: recut triangles or squares with knife, and remove from pan. Store covered at room temperature.



William and Kate's White Almond Wedding Cake

I am a little behind on blogging to say the least, but wanted to share this wonderful cake recipe!

Less than a week before the Royal Wedding, I decided to throw a party. I thought it would be great fun to invite over some friends, get dressed up, and celebrate the mementous event. Most everyone dressed up in either wedding attire or something that they would wear to a wedding. Guests brought wedding pictures and/or momentos from their wedding and a finger food to share. It was so much fun!

Since you can't have a wedding party without a cake. I decided to attempt my version of a wedding cake. I wanted to decorate it using wildflowers, and at the time, wildflowers were abundant here in Sicily. The day before the party, I went to the flight line on base (the area where planes take off) and picked a trunk full of wildflowers while dodging bugs and fighter jets! After I got home, I put the mound of flowers on the floor near the kitchen. The next thing I knew there were creepy crawly things all over the place. So, I put the flowers outside until it was time to decorate the cake. By the time the cake was ready for decorating, most of the flowers had wilted.  I salvaged as many as I could and put them in the fridge. That didn't work so well either and by morning there just a few purple flowers that were usable. So shortly before my guests arrived, I was in my backyard cutting yellow flowers from our bush. Not exactly what I had in mind.

As for the recipe, I discovered it at http://www.allrecipes.com/. It had great reviews, and I was confident it would be really good. Most of the time when I bake a cake, I do a simple 9 x 13 inch sheet cake and serve it straight from the pan, but I knew that wouldn't suffice for the wedding party.  I decided to do a two tiered cake. The top tier was 6 in round layers and the bottom tier was 9 inch round layers.

After baking the layers and allowing them to cool, I leveled them using a cake leveler that I bought at The Nearly New Shop on base. (It is a thrift store run by Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. All the proceeds from the store go back to the military community.) It is a very handy tool and much easier than trying to level with a knife. The cake was so moist and delicious! I couldn't quit eating the leftover pieces.

 Instead of putting icing between the layers, I decided to use apricot preserves.

Next, I assembled the layers.

I iced the cake with a buttercream frosting and added ribbon, wildflowers, and some free printables that I found online.  

Here is a pic after it was eaten.

I had leftover batter, so I cooked a 9 inch cake and wrapped it in wax paper and foil then put it in the freezer. The next time I needed something to take to a potluck, I simply thawed the cake and topped it with a frosting of cool whip mixed with crushed fresh or frozen strawberries. The frosting was runny, so I put the cake on top of a wire baking rack and poured the frosting over the cake. I let the icing drip down then transferred the cake to a serving dish. Here is a pic of a slice.

A few weeks later I was asked to make a cake for a baby shower for one of my husband's coworkers. I decided to use this wedding recipe again, but wanted to do a cream cheese strawberry frosting instead of the buttercream frosting. She is expecting a girl, and I thought the pink icing would be pretty. Unfortunately, I cannot post the icing recipe, because I didn't pay attention to measurements, and it ended up being a concoction of cream cheese, cool whip, powdered sugar, frozen strawberries, and I think some strawberry sundae topping. I was given a bouquet of flowers for my birthday and used some of the flowers to decorate the cake. It turned out nice except you can see the layers of the cake since the icing was not very thick.

If you are looking for a very tasty, moist, and versatile cake, I would definitely recommend this recipe. 

WHITE ALMOND WEDDING CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour an 11x13 inch cake pan.

2. Stir together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg whites, and beat with an electric mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, 4 minutes.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

(I doubled this recipe for this cake)

4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup crisco

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla flavoring (clear) or almond flavoring

dash of salt

Mix together with a mixer until smooth.

Poppy Seed Chicken

"And now my beauties, something with poison in it I think, with poison in it... attractive to the eye and soothing to the smell. Poppies, poppies, poppies will put them to sleep, sleep. Now they'll sleep"

Do you know what famous movie this line is from? I will give you a hint. Growing up it was my favorite movie. I had a friend that I often slept over with and she had this movie, and I would ask her to watch it every time I spent the night. I know that she got tired of it, but she was kind enough to humor me. Okay, I guess if you don't know me that well that isn't a very good hint. So, I'll just tell you. I am sure most of you know exactly what movie that is from. If you guessed The Wizard of Oz, ding, ding, ding, you are right!

I can assure you this recipe doesn't have poison it, just deliciousness. This is another one of my go-to recipes. My entire family loves this one so much that I usually double the recipe. It is also freezer friendly meaning you can assemble, and then freeze before baking. When ready to use, simply thaw and bake according to directions.

Here are a few tips:

This recipe calls for 4 to 6 chicken breasts. I like to use a whole chicken. It is cheaper than boneless skinless chicken breasts and adds more flavor. I like to put the chicken in the crockpot overnight on low, and when I wake up it is done. You can add water if you like, but it is not necessary since the chicken will make its own juices. I just let it cool, and then pull it apart.

This recipe calls for one stick of melted butter. I don't know about you, but I would rather not take the chance of all that butter going straight to my thighs! So, I cut the butter in thin slices and place on the casserole. It melts and works just as well.

When crushing the crackers, keep them in the sleeve unopened. Place ends of the sleeve in each palm and press palms together.  This is an easy way to crush the crackers. Then just open the bag and pour over the dish.

Warning! Poppy seeds can show positive for opium on a drug test. I have to make half the casserole with no seeds since the Navy does random drug testing. It wouldn't look good if the head pharmacist on base tests positive for drugs. That is one hassle he would like to avoid.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do! I would love to hear the results.

Poppy Seed Chicken

4 to 6 chicken breasts (I use a whole chicken)

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 pkg. roll crushed Ritz crackers

1 cup sour cream

2 T. poppy seeds

1 stick of butter, melted

Cook chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Mix chicken, soup, and sour cream. Put into a casserole dish. Mix crackers and poppy seeds. Spread over top of chicken mixture. Pour melted butter over top. Bake 30 minutes at 350°.