Our Fabulous Bites

 Rees made this recently based on a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe.  The following is what Rees made.  We want to try Yotam's recipe more closely but we were using what we had on hand.  Yotam called for butter, and we omitted that, and I think we will continue to leave it out.  Maybe it would be better with, but it was still good without the extra fat.  The tomato salsa was really good on top. Avocado Butter on toast with Tomato Salsa  Serves 2-4 Ingredients : 2-3 very ripe avocados (about 9 oz of flesh) 3 limes (want about 2 tsp zest & 2 Tbsp juice) salt 1 tsp fennel (this wasn't in the recipe but what we included since we didn't have tarragon) 1/2 cup fresh tarragon, roughly chopped (we didn't have this but would like to try it) 1/2 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped (I noticed Rees didn't use all of the half cup) 7 oz cherry tomatoes, quartered 2 Tbsp olive oil black pepper 4 slices of bread 1 small garlic clove, peeled and halved 1/4 tsp cumin Directions...

 So we enjoyed the lemon mascarpone frosting so much, it inspired us to try a new crepe filling.   Ingredients : 8 oz mascarpone  1 jar of lemon curd or about a cup of homemade lemon curd 4-8 oz cream cheese, softened Directions :  Whip all the ingredients together and add to dessert crepes. We have mixed lemon curd with whipped cream, mixed lemon curd with cream cheese, mixed lemon curd with cream cheese and whipped cream...we have enjoyed all these combinations.

 Rees made a cake for a school project and the family enjoyed the cake, but we loved the frosting.  We wanted extra frosting so we could dollop more on our cake.  The recipe below is to make a naked cake, meaning, the frosting isn't meant to cover an entire cake.  Double it if you want full coverage, or enough for extra dollops.   Ingredients: 1 cup heavy whipping cream 8 oz mascarpone 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if you really care 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract Directions: 1. Whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.   2. In another bowl, combine mascarpone, powdered sugar and lemon extract.  Mix on medium speed until incorporated. 3. Gradually fold in the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. 4. Use right away.  (we found the extra frosting tasty the next day, but I believe if you want to use it for frosting, you will want to use this earlier rather than later.)

 As it turns out, my kids are picky about savory crepes.  Jeff and I will eat mushroom crepes, broccoli crepes, asparagus, ratatouille....but the kids don't care for any of those.  So through the years I've been trying to find something the kids will be happy about on crepe day. (that isn't full of sugar). We tried these chicken and leek crepes last night and the big kids approved.  Hazel & Ruby didn't give them an honest chance. A nice thing about this recipe is you can make the crepes ahead of time and the chicken filling, but I don't suggest filling the crepes until you are ready to bake them. Directions: Make about 8-12 crepes ( I like alton brown's recipe or buckwheat crepes - I think both of those recipes are on this blog) Filling: Ingredients- 2-3 chicken breasts, skin on bone in 1 tbsp butter 4-5 leeks, white parts only, sliced into 1/2 moons (wash well!) 2 cups chopped spinach (optional) salt & peper to taste 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp mi...

This is an easy recipe and comes in handy when I just want to throw something together.  It isn't a show stopper but gets dinner on the table and zucchini into my kids.  I don't usually peel my zucchini, but my kids don't notice the zucchini (or yellow squash) when I peel it. Ingredients: 8 oz uncooked linguine  4 cups shredded zucchini (about 3 medium) 4 tsp olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 cup plain yogurt  3/4 cup cheddar cheese 3/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper Directions: Cook linguine according to package directions.  Pat zucchini dry and sauce in oil until tender, 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds more.  Transfer to serving bowl.  Add yogurt, cheese, salt and pepper and mix.  Add cooked linguine to serving bowl with zucchini mixture. Toss to coat and serve.

 For so long I used my mission compagne's recipe.  She is the one that introduced me to dutch babies.  Then I found another recipe that made more at once which was handy so I switched to that.  I saw this recipe and decided to give it a try, and I made 2 batches because I knew a single batch wouldn't satisfy my kids.  I liked this recipe.  I would say our family isn't too picky when it comes to dutch babies.  This recipe puffed up even higher than my regular recipe, which is always fun. I made one batch with whole milk and one with non dairy milk and if my memory is correct, we didn't notice a difference.  I need to check that out again because if that is true, that is good news for me. I try to limit the dairy, especially since we seem to love cheese and really don't need more dairy. Rees likes his dutch babies with applesauce or lemon and sugar.  The girls seem to prefer Nutella.  I can eat one plain and I can easily eat it with berrie...

 This was a hit with the family, except for Hazel (she didn't try it).  It serves 4-6.  You can make this with or without meat and feel free to change up the veggies.  You could easily add mushrooms, or edamame, or leave out the carrots...use what you enjoy.  The recipe suggested serving with soft-boiled eggs, which I did, but I didn't think it added much flavor wise, but it could help the meal be more filling.  This cooks on high heat and fast.  I think it is easiest to have everything prepped and organized so you can quickly go from one step to the next.   Ingredients : Stir-Fry Sauce 1/2 cup soy sauce 2 T honey 1 T miso paste / miso concentrate broth 3/4-1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated 1/2  T sriracha sauce (this depends on your interest in heat. adjust as you like) Juice of 1 lime 1 teaspoon ground pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon Stir-Fry 10 ounce ramen noodles  2 T vegetable oil 1 head broccoli, chopped in florets 1 red b...