Peppermint Sun Tea

Peppermint herbal sun tea (which technically isn't tea, but tisane)is a great way to hydrate during the summer months. It is cool, refreshing, and won't dehydrate you like caffeinated beverages will. In fact, I recently asked my doctor and she said that drinking unsweetened herbal tea counts towards your daily glasses of water.


You will need:

1 gallon ice tea jar (I found mine at the grocery store for $5)
4-5 bags of peppermint herbal tea
1 gallon of water


Fill your ice tea jar with cool water, put tea bags in the jar, and set out on the porch in full sun for the day. I prefer my tea without sweetener, but you can add sugar or honey if desired. It would be best to add sweetener while the tea is still warm so that it will fully dissolve. Pour over ice and store the rest in the refrigerator.

Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts

Every gourmet mom needs a fabulous dessert cookbook that never fails to impress. My favorite dessert cookbook is the Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts. I’ve made a large number of the recipes from this 400 page book and have come to rely on it to consistently impress. Most times that I’m taking a dish to a large gathering, I make sure to bring something that I’ve made before, but with this cookbook, I know that anything I make will be beautiful, impressive, and most importantly DELICIOUS! I highly recommend buying this cookbook!

Yogurt Monkey Tails

The cook at the school I work at makes this summertime treat. It's easy to make, kids (and adults) love it, and as a bonus it's healthy too!

bananas
1 container strawberry or vanilla yogurt
sprinkles (optional)
popsicle sticks

Cut desired number of bananas in half. Insert a popsicle stick. Lay on wax paper on a baking sheet and place in the freezer. When completely frozen, dip each banana in yogurt until coated. Add sprinkles and place back in the freezer until yogurt is frozen.

5 Easy Time Savers

Use pre-minced garlic. Freshly minced garlic tastes better, but takes a long time to prepare (although I got a very nifty kitchen gadget that makes it a lot easier). You can find pre-minced garlic in the produce isle in a jar, or if you use a lot of it like I do, you can buy it at Costco.

Don’t peel your potatoes. Whether you are mashing them or making hash browns, don’t bother peeling the potatoes, there are a lot of extra vitamins in the peel and it will cut more than a few minutes out of your prep time. If anyone says anything, just tell them they are “homestyle”

Use an apple corer/slicer. This is a great time saver when the kids (or I) want a quick, healthy snack. Make sure you get a heavy duty one that is all one piece. I use mine all of the time and the cheap ones break easily and can cause injury when they do. It’s worth an extra $5!

Use canned beans. When a recipe calls for dried beans, I usually use them, but if I’m in a hurry and don’t want to go through the 12 hour process of soaking and cooking them, I will just buy canned beans. This skips several hours preparation!

Heat the water in the tap before you put it in the pot to boil. If you are boiling water, wait a few extra seconds for it to heat up in the tap before adding it to the pan. The already warm water will come to a boil faster!

Simple Soup Recipe

The following is a recipe from a cookbook called, Soup: A way of Life by Barbara Kafka. I had to include it because if you take all of the shortcuts, it is probably one of the easiest homemade meals I’ve ever made! I’ve doubled the recipe to make it big enough for a 4 person family and would serve it with bread.

Simple White Bean and Pesto Soup

4 cups chicken broth (I usually use 4 cups water and 4 tsp Better than Bullion)
4 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
4 T Pesto
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

Combine first 4 ingredients, bring to a boil, and then simmer for 1 minute. Add Parmesan to each bowl and serve.

Cheddar Cheese Risotto

I absolutely love risotto, so when I heard an interview with Nigella Lawson on NPR describing her recipe for cheddar cheese risotto, I was very intrigued. If you aren’t familiar with risotto, it is an Italian dish that usually includes vegetables, meat (or not if you make it as a side), and delicious Italian cheese. To put cheddar in a risotto almost seems wrong, and yet I was compelled to try it. As far as risottos go, I’d give it three out of five stars, but my daughter loved it (and did all the stirring for me). That’s when it occurred to me that this dish is practically macaroni and cheese. What a great crossover meal! It is familiar, but different and the next time that I want to make a more authentic risotto, perhaps she will be more willing to try it even if it contains scary things like broccoli.

Cheddar Cheese Risotto
by Nigella Lawson
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 baby leeks or 2 fat scallions, finely sliced
• 1-1/2cups risotto rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 4 cups hot vegetable stock
• 1 cup chopped Cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives
Instructions
1. Melt the butter and oil in a medium-sized pan and cook the sliced baby leeks or scallions until softened.
2. Add the risotto rice and keep stirring for a minute or so, then turn up the heat and add the wine and mustard, stirring until the wine is absorbed.
3. Start ladling in the hot stock, letting each ladleful become absorbed as you stir before adding the next one.
4. Stir and ladle until the rice is al dente, about 18 minutes, then add the cheese, stirring it into the rice until it melts.
5. Take the pan straight off the heat, still stirring as you do, and then spoon into warmed dishes, sprinkling with some of the chopped chives.
Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter


To checkout the interview for yourself, visit: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114320079

1/2 Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancakes

It’s important to me that my family eat healthy food, but I also want to let them eat “normal” foods. Not only that, but if I go overboard with too much whole wheat flour or pasta, my husband complains that I’m feeding them “cardboard.” I’ve found a way to compromise with both viewpoints by using half and half. When I make spaghetti for instance, I use half whole wheat pasta and half regular pasta. When I make baked goods, I use half whole wheat flour and half unbleached white flour. Here is a recipe for pancakes where I’ve adjusted the ingredients to make it a healthier treat. I’ve substituted vegetable oil for safflower oil which is a healthier oil, but unlike olive oil, has no flavor. We’ve also started topping our pancakes with applesauce instead of syrup. Try it, it is delicious!

1/2 Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancakes

1 C unbleached white flour
1 C whole wheat flour
1 T sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ salt
1 egg beaten
1 ½ C buttermilk *
¼ C safflower oil

Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl, then slowly mix into dry ingredients just until combined. Do not over mix. Preheat griddle and lightly oil with safflower oil. Put desired amount of batter on your griddle and cook until bubbles begin to appear at the top of the pancake. Flip and cook on the other side. Top with applesauce or pure maple syrup.

*In a pinch, here is a great buttermilk substitute: mix 1 ½ cup milk with 1 ½ T white vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes before using. I almost always use this substitution since I usually make pancakes on a whim and don’t usually have buttermilk in the fridge. This will also means less fat in your pancakes.

Here’s a link for a great cookie recipe containing zucchini, granola, and oatmeal. Ok, so that was probably not a good way to advertise them, but trust me, they’re REALLY good! This is one of the recipes where I use half white flour and half wheat.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/St-Patricks-Day-Zucchini-Oatmeal-Cookies/Detail.aspx