Our Fabulous Bites

 I thought this sounded and looked kind of weird when Isla made it, but turns out, it was yummy. Serves 4 Prep 10 minutes Cook 6-8 minutes Ingredients : 1 cup plain yogurt (greek is fine) 1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated zest and juice from 1 lemon 1/2 lemon cut into wedges salt 4 eggs 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil 4 T butter 2 T crushed red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper 1/3 tsp paprika 1 T sesame seeds Fresh parsley, basil, mint, and/or dill for serving (any combo works)  Good hearty bread, or flat bread Directions : 1. In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, garlic, lemon zest and juice and a pinch of salt.   2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sesame oil, butter, lemon wedges, red pepper flakes, paprika and pinch of salt.  Cook until lemon is browned, 3-4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and discard lemon wedges.  Stir in the sesame seeds. Set aside. 3. Poach or fry the eggs. 4. Spread the yogurt into the bottom of 4 bowls and add...

 Jeff was gifted a lot of pistachios, a lot.  So I decided to look for ways to use them, besides just snacking on them.  I found a recipe for cheese dip and made a couple of changes and it was a hit at our house. Ingredients 1 cup shelled pistachios, not salted is better 12 ounces softened cream cheese 16 ounces white cheddar cheese, grated, room temperature 1/2 cup mayonaise 1/2 cup whole milk 2 tsp chopped fresh parsley 1.5 tsp white vinegar 1/4 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/4 - 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/2 teaspoon pepper, black or white 1/4 tsp dry dill weed Crackers or pita chips for serving Directioins: 1. Roast the shelled pistachios in the over on 350 for 5-10 minutes.  Just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn. 2.Once the nuts have cooled, chop them well. 3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and milk until smooth.  Add the parlsey, vinegar, garlic and onion powders, pe...

 There are many clafoutis recipes.  I typically enjoy them all, but I prefer clafoutis that is creamy rather than rubbery.  I also prefer pitted cherries.  I find it a better eating experience if I don't have to spit pits out each bite.  I tried the following recently and this one seems pretty good to me.   3 large eggs 1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar (I want to try 1/3 sugar next time) 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more to butter your pie dish 1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour A couple pinches of salt 1 cup (235 ml) milk (I had fat free so I did about 2/3 milk and 1/3 cream - I will need to experiment on this because I think this changes the texture) 1/2 teaspoon almond extract 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 generous (245 grams) cups sweet cherries, pitted if you wish - I covered the entire bottom of my deep pie dish and I quartered the cherries.  I haven't done that before but I think it was a positive change. Opt...

 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.)