Oh endive, how I've never used you...

Looking through one of my Cooking Light cookbooks I found a recipe that I thought I would try. It was a simple appetizer/salad option that included endive leaves which I'd never used before. If you want a small bite sized dish with tons of flavor this is it!

Endive Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Walnuts


Ingredients:
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts
2 tbsp. honey (divided)
Cooking Spray
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp. orange juice
16 Belgian endive leaves (about 2 heads)
16 small orange sections (about 2 naval oranges)
1/3 c. crumbled goat cheese
1 tbsp. minced fresh chives
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper


Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine walnuts and 1 tbsp. honey - spread onto cooking spray coated baking sheet and bake for 10 min. stirring after 5 minutes.
3. Combine 1 tbsp. honey, vinegar and orange juice in small saucepan. Bring to boil and cook until thickened.
4. Fill each endive leaf with 1 orange section. Top with 1 tsp. cheese and 1 tsp. walnuts. Drizzle vinegar mixture evenly over leaves and sprinkle with chives and pepper. 
8 servings of 2 leaves each.


FYI: Endive only has a shelf life of 2 or 3 days after you purchase then it starts to get dark and even more bitter. So, it's something that you buy the day of or day before you need to use it.

Fun earrings to make

I recently went through my files and came across a pattern that I printed out years ago. The pattern is from jewelry maker/designer/teacher, Tammy Powley, who is on About.com.  So, I thought I would try to make them --And it's super easy!
The pattern/directions for these earrings are here. Below are some of the pairs I made. All of them incorporate three stitching techniques: the ladder stitch, the brick stitch and fringing.

Vodka Sauce --revisited

Tonight I'm attempting my first vodka sauce. Which normally is a rich creamy sauce made with vodka (of course). This recipe is a little more figure friendly- being a Weight Watcher recipe.

Ingredients


1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 medium shallots; minced (about 1/2 c.)
2 medium garlic cloves minced
2 tbsp. parsley, fresh minced
1/2 tsp. sea salt, or other course salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
3 tbsp. canned tomato paste
2 oz vodka
12 oz uncooked penne
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
20 leaves basil, fresh, cut into ribbons


Instructions


Add butter, garlic and shallots to large heated skillet (med/low heat)- sauté until shallots start to carmelize, about 3-5 minutes. Add parsley, sea salt and pepper stirring once or twice. Add tomato paste and mix to form paste. Cook for about 5 minutes, moving paste around pan occasionally; add vodka. Scrap bottom of pan with a wooden spoon and cook for about 5 minutes more.


Cook pasta according to directions; drain.


Add cream to tomato sauce; reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes. Add pasta to sauce and mix to coat and absorb; top with basil and season to taste with salt and pepper.


1 cup per serving.

Pizza dough 101

My husband and I are on a tight budget these days as is probably most of the country. So, I thought I would share my pizza dough recipe with you. It's really inexpensive to make pizza dough and it keeps for about 3 months in the freezer after you make it. The dough can be used from everything to breadsticks to calzones. It's super easy and here is the recipe.


Ingredients:
3 cups of warm water
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. honey
4 cups unbleached flour (all purpose)
1/2 tsp. salt


Instructions:
In a stand mixer combine the water, yeast, honey and 4 teaspoons of the flour. Stir it gently to combine. Cover with a damp towel and let stand for 30 minutes in a warm place until foamy.-- this is also testing the yeast if it does not foam your yeast may not be fresh or good anymore.


Add the remaining flour and salt then with the dough hook knead for about 10 minutes until dough is well combined and smooth. You may need to add small amounts of flour if the dough is sticky. Transfer  dough to a large bowl and cover with a damp towel and let rise (45 minutes) dough should double in volume. Punch dough down and cut into 2 or 4 sections depending on how big you'd like your pizzas. I usually cut my dough into 4 sections because we make smaller pizzas with very thin crusts. At this time you can proceed to making pizzas or whatever you'd like or put the dough in air tight baggies and freeze them until you need to use. I usually freeze a good bit of them and if I need to make pizza I pull out the dough and defrost on the counter. Dough should be room temperature when you use it.

You can buy yeast in bulk at the grocery store. It comes in freeze dried packs -- they look like a small brick. Once you've opened the yeast it will keep in the freezer for quite a long long time. 


If you'd like to make whole wheat dough simply change the flour measurement to 2 cups white flour and 1 & 1/2 cups wheat flour.

Lemon pasta with roasted shrimp

This is a Barefoot Contessa recipe that has been leaned up a bit. Simple ingredients and very light and fresh. Enjoy.


Ingredients:
about 18 shrimp
3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
12 oz. of whole wheat pasta (angel hair preferred but you can use spaghetti or linguini)
4 tbsp (1/2 stick light butter)
2 lemons, zested and juiced


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix shrimp with 1 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper to season-- mix and spread out on cookie sheet.
Roasted shrimp for about 6-8 min or until pink- cooked through.
Meanwhile cook pasta according to directions save some of the pasta water before draining. Toss together pasta, 2 tbsp olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice-- salt and pepper to taste. Add reserved pasta water (if needed) to make more of a sauce for pasta... cook slighty... and then add roasted shrimp. 


I usually chop some fresh parsley and sprinkle on top before serving.


makes about six servings

Grilltastic asparagus.

I've been grilling up asparagus for awhile in my grill pan but never really got those great grill marks that can make them not only look good but have that nice smoky taste. I've found a solution: grill press it!

Faux risotto.

My husband is allergic to rice so I can't necessarily make risotto the traditional way. So I decided to try out a new dish. This fake-out risotto is made with quick cooking pearl barley, asparagus and balsamic vinegar. It's not as labor intensive as making risotto the proper way and it's not half bad either! This Weight Watcher recipe counts for 3 pts per cup.

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion(s), minced
1 cup(s) uncooked barley, use quick-cooking pearl variety
3 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth, or vegetable broth
3 cup(s) fat-free chicken broth, or vegetable broth
1/2 pound(s) asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup(s) chives, fresh, sliced
1 1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese Instructions: Warm oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until onion is tender, about 6 minutes. Stir in barley and cook, stirring, about 1 minute more. Add broth, cover and simmer over low heat for 8 minutes; stir in asparagus and simmer 2 minutes more. Remove from heat, stir in chives and vinegar; season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cheese and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.