Blueberry and Buttermilk Tart

A few months ago I participated in a gift swap with other people who love to cook via an online community. My secret gift giver was sweet enough to send me these adorable little yellow ice cream bowls, yellow spatulas, and a tart pan. I was so looking forward to using the tart pan but I wanted to make sure it was the perfect recipe. When I saw this recipe for a Blueberry Tart on Martha Stewart’s website I knew it would be a great choice since berries are in season right now. It’s also the perfect choice for a summer dinner party because you have to chill it for at least 2 hours before serving so you can assemble it ahead of time and forget about it until it’s time to pull it out for dessert. Oh and the shortbread crust was DELICIOUS! I am tempted just to use the crust recipe for my go-to shortbread cookie recipe! All in all it was just wonderful with the buttery shortbread crust, tangy lemon buttermilk custard, and fresh blueberries.

Blueberry and Buttermilk Tart

Source: Everyday Food

Ingredients

Serves 8

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
* 1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1/3 cup blanched whole almonds
* 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
* 1 tablespoon cold water
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* 3 cups fresh blueberries (about 1 1/2 pints)

Directions

1. Make the crust: With an electric mixer on low speed, beat butter and 1/4 cup sugar until just combined, about 15 seconds. Add flour and salt, and beat until dough comes together, about 3 minutes. Shape into a disk.
2. Pulse remaining 1/3 cup sugar and the almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Scatter half of the almond mixture onto a clean work surface, and place dough on top. Scatter the remaining almond mixture on top, and roll out dough, resprinkling with almond mixture and incorporating into dough, until dough measures an 11-inch square. (I didn’t have any luck rolling out the dough because it was way too crumbly so I just incorporated all of the almond mixture in by kneading and then just pressed the dough into the pan with my hands until it covered the bottom and sides of the tart pan. )
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Fit dough into a 9-inch square tart pan with removable bottom, pressing into bottom and up sides. Trim dough flush with rim. Refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes (or up to 1 day).
4. Bake tart shell, occasionally pressing bottom to flatten using the bottom of a glass, until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool.
5. Make the filling: Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a small bowl; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.
6. Heat cream, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Add gelatin mixture, and stir until it has dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool. Stir in buttermilk and lemon juice.
7. Remove tart from pan. Spread custard into crust. Refrigerate until custard is slightly set, about 15 minutes. Scatter blueberries evenly over top. Refrigerate until custard is firm, about 2 hours (or up to 1 day). Cut into squares to serve.

Creamy Corn

Yet another success thanks to Everyday Food. This was the side dish suggested to go with the pork chops on the episode of Martha that I saw and I thought it looked so easy and so delicious. It did not disappoint! I love to have another idea for a starch side dish besides potatoes in my recipe box. I especially like that it uses frozen corn that you take straight out of the freezer and put it in to cook. Who has the time or money to buy corn on the cob, roast the corn cobs, cut the corn off the cobs, etc. This will be one of my go-to side dishes from now on. Creamy, easy, tasty, and cheap! What’s not to love??

Creamy Corn

Source: Everyday Food

Ingredients

Serves 4

* 1 box (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels
* 1/4 to 1/2 cup whole milk
* 3 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, cut into pieces
* 2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives
* Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, simmer corn and 1/4 cup milk over medium heat until corn is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese and chives. Season with salt and pepper. If desired, adjust consistency with a little more milk.

Crispy Breaded Pork Cutlets

These were AMAZING!! I’ve finally found the trick to perfectly crisp oven-baked meats. I saw this recipe on an episode of The Martha Stewart Show and thought the whole meal sounded delicious. I loved the idea of browning off the Panko bread crumbs in the oven before coating the meat. It gave them a richer golden-brown color and added tons of crispness. I also loved the way you coat the chops in dijon mustard instead of dipping in egg. It added a great flavor and saved calories! I was just thrilled with how these turned out! I will use this same coating strategy with chicken and maybe even fish.

If you’ve never used Panko bread crumbs, TRY THEM! I found them in my normal grocery store in the International Aisle way down on the bottom shelf.

I served the pork chops with the suggested sides: Creamy Corn and Saute of Peppers.

Crispy Breaded Pork Cutlets

Source: Everyday Food

Ingredients

Serves 4

* 1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) (I also added some spices to my breadcrumbs…garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt)
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
* 4 boneless pork loin chops (6 to 8 ounces each)
* 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss panko with oil. Bake, tossing once, until golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees.
2. Meanwhile, one at a time, place chops between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or the bottom of a small heavy pan, pound to make 1/4-inch-thick cutlets.
3. Dividing evenly, coat pork with mustard; season with salt and pepper. One at a time, dip cutlets into panko, pressing firmly to adhere.
4. Place a rack on a rimmed baking sheet; place pork on rack, and bake, without turning, until opaque throughout, 10 to 15 minutes.

Turkey Pot Stickers

One thing that I ALWAYS order when we go out for Asian food is pot stickers. I had never considered making them myself until I saw this easy looking recipe in a Cooking Light special edition magazine that I had in my archives. I was a little intimidated by them but they turned out to be way easier than expected and SO delicious. They tasted just like pot stickers you get at an Asian restaurant….maybe even better!

I found the wonton wrappers in my grocery store’s frozen food section and they worked AWESOME. I am looking forward to using them more often!

Turkey Pot Stickers

Source: Make It Simple: Best of Cooking Light

You can assemble these bite-sized dumplings ahead and cook them just before serving. The food processor quickly chops the filling ingredients. Wonton wrappers can be substituted for gyoza skins.

Dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced

Dumplings:
1 cup sliced shiitake mushroom caps
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup sliced carrot
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten (I just used one whole beaten egg)
2 cups chopped skinned cooked turkey (I used ground turkey that I browned off in a pan and it worked beautifully)
24 (4-inch) gyoza skins (I used wonton wrappers)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided (I needed more oil than this)
1/2 cup water, divided

To prepare dipping sauce, combine first 5 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk.To prepare dumplings, place mushrooms, onions, carrot, ginger, and vinegar in a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped, scraping sides. Combine mushroom mixture and egg whites in a large bowl; add turkey, stirring until combined.

Working with 1 gyoza skin at a time (cover remaining skins to keep from drying), spoon about 1 tablespoon turkey mixture into center of each skin. Moisten edges of skin with water. Fold in half, pinching edges together to seal. Place dumpling on a baking sheet (cover loosely with a towel to keep from drying). Repeat procedure with remaining skins and turkey mixture.

Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange half of dumplings in pan; cover and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn dumplings; add 1/4 cup water. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Wipe pan dry with a paper towel. Repeat procedure with remaining vegetable oil, dumplings, and water. Serve warm with dipping sauce.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 3 pot stickers and about 2 teaspoons dipping sauce)

CALORIES 144 (16% from fat); FAT 2.5g (sat 0.5g,mono 0.5g,poly 1g); IRON 1.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 30mg; CALCIUM 25mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.5g; SODIUM 332mg; PROTEIN 12.7g; FIBER 0.9g

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2002

Shredded Pork Tacos

These pork tacos were a great weeknight meal. They would be perfect for a busy day when you are out all day because you just pop everything into the slow-cooker and leave it. The recipe is from Make It Simple: The Best of Cooking Light. Now that I’ve tried pork tacos this way, I am eager to try other methods too. I served the tacos with fruit salad.

Shredded Pork Tacos

Source: Make It Simple: The Best of Cooking LIght

Since pork tenderloin is already a lean cut of meat, it literally falls apart after eight hours. Use two forks to shred the meat while the mixture is still in the slow cooker. You can also serve the pork mixture on sandwich buns.

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup beer or water

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 (1.25 ounce) package 40%-less-sodium taco seasoning (I made my own taco seasoning)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas

2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Stir in cilantro.

2. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Spoon 1/4 cup pork mixture onto each tortilla, and top each tortilla with 1/4 cup lettuce, 1 tablespoon cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped onion, and 1 1/2 teaspoons sour cream. Fold tacos in half. Yield 4 servings (serving size: 2 tacos).

Calories 379 (28% from fat); Fat 11.6g (sat 4.8mg, mono 2.9g, poly 1.2g); Protein 42g; Carb 28.1g; Fiber 3.2 g; Chol 119mg; Iron 2.1mg; Sodium 343mg; Calc 142mg

Barefoot Bloggers: Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread

Technical Problem Update: I’ve started using a new photo hosting website for the photo in this post and all posts from here on. Please let me know if the photo in this post is still not showing up in your Google Reader. Thanks!

This week’s Barefoot Bloggers recipe was Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread as chosen by Sabrina and Alexander of Cooking with the Kids. I was very excited to make something that fit right up my “Spicy Skillet” alley, so to speak. In the end, my cornbread lacked spice but I could easily have fixed that by not taking out the seeds and membranes of the jalapenos. The texture was very fluffy and not dense like many cornbreads can be. I was overall very pleased with this cornbread, as were my guests! Thanks for another great recipe, Ina!

I’m going to be lazy this week because we had guests over for dinner tonight and I’m just getting to posting this at 10:30pm on the post day. For the recipe click here. Also don’t forget to check out the Barefoot Blogger website for updates on future events.

Update on Technical Problems

It appears as though the red squares are only showing up when viewing my blog through Google Reader. I plan on transferring all my photos to another web host soon to resolve the problem but for now it will have to wait. We are leaving in a couple hours to go out of town for a wedding and to spend the holiday weekend with Alex’s family so there is no time for me to fix the issue right now.

In the time being, if you are dying to see real pictures you can go the blog itself (not on Google Reader) and they should still be showing up.

I must say that in a way this technical glitch has been a blessing because I never realized how many readers I had until now. I guess I always sort of thought that it was mostly just family and friends who kept up with it. Thank you to all of you who do read my modest attempt at a Food Blog on a regular basis. It was great to see some of you come out from under the cracks yesterday to let me know that you couldn’t see my photos. I appreciate all of your help in resolving this issue and I will definitely work on getting it fixed as soon as possible when we get back from our trip on Monday.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend. Hopefully you’ll get to enjoy some of these:

Remember while you celebrate our country’s freedom to pray for our military troops who are fighting to keep our country safe. And if you could, maybe throw in an extra prayer for all the military spouses and children out there who sacrifice so much for our country as well.

Technical Problems

I would like to apologize to anyone who is only seeing red squares instead of photos on my blog. I have no idea what has caused this issue but I am trying to get it resolved. Yesterday they were appearing that way to me too but then this morning they went back to normal so I am hoping it will straighten itself out on its own over time.

If you are reading this and the photos are still showing up as red squares please leave me a comment to let me know. I’m trying to figure out if it is eventually going to work itself out or not. T

Thanks so much to all of you who read this blog. I hope this issue will go away so you can continue to enjoy my blog.

Grilled Steak Salad

This was a great summer salad! I used flank steak instead of the suggested sirloin to save on cost. It was refreshing and delicious!

Grilled Steak Salad

Source: Cooking Light

Substitute flank steak for the sirloin if you prefer. Serve with thick slices of garlic bread and ice-cold beer.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound lean boneless sirloin steak, trimmed
8 cups spring-blend salad greens
1 1/2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 cup vertically sliced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 (8 3/4-ounce) can whole-kernel corn, drained and rinsed

Preparation
Combine first 7 ingredients; rub over both sides of steak. Heat a nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Add steak; cook 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Cut the steak across grain into thin slices.

While steak cooks, combine salad greens and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; toss well to coat. Top with steak.
Yield

4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces steak and 3 cups salad)
Nutritional Information

CALORIES 278(28% from fat); FAT 8.7g (sat 2.7g,mono 3.7g,poly 1g); IRON 6.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 76mg; CALCIUM 106mg; CARBOHYDRATE 22g; SODIUM 530mg; PROTEIN 30.4g; FIBER 6.1g

Wilton Course 2 Final Cake

I am officially a graduate of Wilton Course 2! I haven’t posted any updates on Course 2 yet because we were basically just working on making all the flowers to put on this final cake. In the course we learned how to use Royal Icing to make flowers that will dry hard and you can make them ahead and then place them on the cake. We also learned how to use Color Flow Icing to make little birds, but unfortunately my birds got cracked in the transportation process so you won’t be seeing those on my cake.

The flowers you see on this cake are daisies, petunias, pansies, daffodils, and victorian roses. This is only about two thirds of the flowers we learned to make in course 2 but I decided to omit some of them from the cake to keep it from being too much.

Please excuse the terrible handwriting on the cake. It was a last-minute and hurried addition. Alex had been complaining that I hadn’t made any cakes in Course 2 so I decided to dedicate the cake to him.

In the next picture you can see a close-up of the basket weave design and the rope border (top of cake) that we learned in this last class.

All in all, this class was a lot of fun. At times it got a bit tedious making all the different flowers but I am very happy with the final cake. I have already signed up for Course 3 in which we are introduced to fondant! I will be sure to post updates on that was well.

By the way, the cake was just a strawberry boxed cake mix with strawberry jam filling.