Blueberry Cinnamon Frozen Yogurt

Blueberries are in season and James had a great idea to try blueberry frozen yogurt. This recipe turned out wonderful. The cinnamon adds a twist to your normal fruit frozen yogurt. The original recipe is found Here.
I did change it up a bit and the following recipe is with my changes.

Ingredients:

• 2 pints fresh or frozen blueberries
  
• 6 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 1/2 cups full fat plain or vanilla yogurt (if using low or non-fat yogurt, add 4 Tbsp cream)
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions:

1. Place the lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Heat on medium heat, stirring, until all of the sugar has dissolved. While the mixture is heating, blend blueberries to desired consistency, depending on how smooth you want the result. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool. Add pureed blueberries to sugar mixture. Make sure mixture is completely cool before the next step - if you're in a hurry use a cold water bath or stick in the freezer for a little while.

2. Stir in the yogurt and milk until completely incorporated. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) until completely cold.*

3 Process the blueberry yogurt mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions (usually about 25 minutes). Serve immediately (it will be VERY soft) or let it firm up a bit by freezing it for several hours.

Make about 2 quarts.

*James and I skipped this step because we thought it was cool enough. It still turned out great, just took a lot longer to freeze in the ice cream maker. Next time, I'll follow this step, especially if I'm afraid I'll run out of ice!

Berry Lemonade Slush

This drink is one of my favorites to help me cool down during those hot summer days! The lemon to berry ratio is just perfect for me (I like my lemon!).

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Country Time Lemonade (dry mix)
1/2 Cup Water*
3 Cups of ice cubes
1 Cup of frozen strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries

Directions:
1. Put dry mix into blender and add remaining ingredients.
2. Cover and blend on High, until smooth.

*If you have a high-impact blender, such as a Vita-mix, add at least 1/2 cup more water.

Filipino Pancit Sotanghon Noodles

This recipe was given to me by my good friend Pam. I love it sooo much, that I just HAVE to share it. Pam is from the Philipines, and has lived in the States for about 10 years. She makes this dish constantly even now. I hope you all enjoy. She did tell me it is one of the "official" meals of the Philipines. I like it best with Chicken, Shrimp, carrots, celery, and snow peas. This is what she sent to me:


Ingredients

• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, sometimes I use rotisserie chicken, beef, pork or any combination
• 1/2 lb. cooked shrimp (optional)
• 1 lb. Sotanghon Vermicelli Noodles (1package), soaked in warm water for 5 minutes – asian store
• ½ pkg flour sticks(pancit canton-no soaking) – asian store(optional)
• 2 cups reserved chicken broth
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 cup green onion, cut into ¼ inch (optional)
• 2-3 small carrots (sliced in long narrow strips)
• Cabbage, celery, green beans, snow peas ( you don’t have to put everything – just the veggies you like)
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1-2 tbsp of soy sauce
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Lemon wedges (optional)

Directions

1. Boil chicken breast until cooked. Drain chicken and slice into strips. Reserve chicken broth. For rotisserie, boil the bones to make broth
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Saute garlic and onion until cook
3. Add the carrots and other veggies except cabbage, salt, pepper. Saute for a few minutes.
4. Add chicken & shrimp if using. Cover and cook for 2 minutes then add chicken broth, soy sauce. Cover until it comes to a boil.
5. Add the sotanghon noodles mixing well to distribute the color and flavor, add the flour sticks if using.
6. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the noodles are soft, add cabbage last. Taste and adjust seasoning to desire taste.
7. Before turning off the heat, sprinkle the green onions on top or before serving.
8. Serve with lemon wedges

- Pam Poquita

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Tuna Waldorf Salad

This is the tastiest tuna sandwich I've ever had. You might know that if you had been there when Taylor and I enjoyed it for lunch . . . and again an hour later for a second lunch! It can also be quite healthy with it's lean meat, fruit, and veggies. That's if you cut back on the mayo. It would also be delicious with canned chicken.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used half this - you can also use cottage cheese or yogurt)
  
• 1 tablespoon prepared Dijon-style mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (6 ounce) can water-packed tuna (I doubled this)
  
• 1 shallot, finely chopped (I used green onion)
  
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish
• 4 large croissants (or other bread or crackers)
  
• 4 leaves lettuce
• 4 slices Swiss cheese

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, curry powder, salt and pepper. Add tuna, shallot, apple, walnuts, celery and pickle relish and toss until all ingredients are coated with dressing.
2. Lightly toast the croissants. Split in half, place a lettuce leaf on the bottom half of the croissant and fill with tuna salad. Top with a slice of Swiss cheese and the top half of the croissant. Serve with a dill pickle and potato chips. Bon appetit!

Raspberry Jello Salad

I'm not a huge Jello fan, but I really like this one. The pudding makes it thick and smooth. This is sweet so we usually have it for our dessert. The frozen fruit helps it set up quick.

Ingredients:
1 large package Vanilla pudding (non-instant)
1 large package Raspberry Jello
2 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups water
cool whip or whipped cream

Directions:
1. Whisk vanilla pudding and water together in small saucepan. Boil until thick.
2. Add raspberry jello to hot pudding. Stir until dissolved. Let cool while preparing pan.
3. In desired dish, spread fruit in the bottom. I like to use a glass pyrex dish that's 4x7x1.5".
4. Pour jello over fruit. Cover and refrigerate until set.
5. Top with Cool whip or whipped cream.

*Different fruits/flavors of jello can be substituted; we really like the tartness of raspberries.

Watermelon-Strawberry Soup

This is kinda like a smoothie. In fact, Elliot thought I was silly for calling it a soup and serving it in bowls for our first course of dinner. haha. Either way, it's good and refreshing.

Ingredients

4	cups watermelon, chunks seeded
2	tbsp sugar
2	cups strawberries, stems removed
1/2	cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2	tsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Add the melon and sugar to the container of a food processor or electric blender.
   
   
2. Process until smooth and pureed; pour mixture into a large mixing bowl.
   
   
3. Add berries to the container of a food processor or electric blender; process until smooth and pureed; pour into the bowl with the watermelon puree.
   
   
4. Add the yogurt and lemon juice to the watermelon-strawberry puree; stir well to combine.
   
   
5. Chill until ice cold.

Pretty, huh? I think this would be fun to serve at a little girl's party...or a big girl's party. Hey, how about baby or wedding showers?

Almond Poppyseed Bread

I found this recipe while blog surfing and couldn't wait to try it. It tastes more delicious than I would have imagined. I could eat a whole loaf in one sitting. Wait a minute, I think I did . . . and Taylor ate the other! Recipe from "Our Best Bites"

Almond Poppyseed Bread

Yeild: 5 mini pans or 2 regular loaf pans

3 c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/8 c. canola oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. butter flavoring
1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring


GLAZE:

3/4 c. white granulated sugar
1/4 c. orange juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. butter flavoring
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring


Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar, and flavorings and beat for 2 minutes. Alternate adding in flour mixture and milk and then mix until just combined. Add poppyseeds and mix until just combined.
Pour into prepared pans (5 mini pans or 2 regular loaf pans) and bake (35-40 minutes for mini pans, 1 hour for large pans; keep an eye on them). When done, place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.
While cooling, prepare glaze by combining all glaze ingredients. Drizzle over loaves and allow to harden.

If wrapping in cellophane or other sealed container, try not to package these until ready to deliver because after awhile, the moisture will condense in the bag and the glorious sugary crust on the bread will liquefy and soak into the bread. Which, don't get me wrong, tastes great, but the slightly-crispy texture on top of the soft bread may just be the best part.

Mango Peach Green Smoothie

So, I've been experimenting with quite a few of these smoothies for a lot of reasons. We've gone Vegan for a while and so they're dairy free and for anyone who has finicky eaters like my son, it's a great way to sneak in a lot of greens and they don't even care. My son thinks it's yogurt. I don't care what he calls it so long as he drinks it. It looks pretty and is super good for you. The blending process breaks down the leaves for you so your tummy doesn't have to work as hard and you actually get more enzymes this way than if you were just to chew on the leaves in a salad. They're full of antioxidants and you may go into a slight detox healing crisis if you drink a lot of them so just be aware. But it's all good for you. I can definitely say I'm a big fan of green smoothies. This particular recipe is my favorite but I'll be sure to post others if I think they're really good too.

-1 Handful of Fresh Kale (Make it a hefty handful cuz this stuff is so good for you)

-1 Handful of Arugula or Baby Spinach

-1 Handful of Parsley

-1 Handful of Green Grapes

-1/2 of a Medium Cucumber diced

-1 Peach with skin

-1 Mango (cut up as much of the fruit from the pit as possible and squeeze in the remaining juice)

-1 Kiwi

-1 small Banana

-1 small scoop of Soy Ice Cream

-4-6 Ice Cubes (Whatever fits)

-Water to blend easier. (Or if you want a little more flavor, you can do soy or rice milk or a little bit of Mango Peach V-Fusion Vegetable Fruit juice)

-1 Mint leaf to garnish

Toss into blender and blend. Super easy.

Yields about 4 very filling smoothies. The more I have them, the more I want them. I recommend using a Vitamix or a really good blender because this will make them smoother and they're better that way so if you don't have one, I would invest in a good blender cuz you won't want to stop after making just one of these. I'd love a Vitamix but I have a Cuisinart blender and it does the job very well.

Raw Squash Salad

We've been eating a lot more raw foods lately, and we tried this salad tonight. It was light and refreshing--and healthy to boot. Plus, it's a creative way to use up some of that zucchini that's overtaking your garden! (Why is this underlined? Don't ask me.)


Ingredients-

2 summer squash or zucchini (or one of each)

1 tomato
bunch of red spring onions or scallions (I used 4 and it was plenty!)

juice of 1 lemon
2Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 leaves of minced fresh basil
cheese (feta, romano, etc.)

Directions-

Cut zucchini and squash into thin slices;chop tomatoes and red spring onion or scallion. Combine in one bowl.
Add olive oil,salt,pepper and lemon juice into separate bowl and whisk together. Add basil
Drizzle dressing over vegetables. Sprinkle cheese on top to taste.
Store in fridge until ready to eat. It's nice if it has a bit of time to marinate.

Croissant Egg Boats

This is a recipe by Rachael Ray. She calls it a fancy fake out inspired by fast food. Serve it with fruit or a salad for a delicious breakfast or brunch. Watch Rachael make it here.

Ingredients

• 2 store-bought bakery croissants
• 8 slices deli ham
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 2 large plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 4 eggs
• Salt and ground black pepper

---

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Slice the croissants in half lengthwise. Lay them cut-side up in a greased muffin tin.

Line 2 pieces of ham into the cavities of each half and top them all with a slice of cheese and a few slices of tomato. Crack an egg into each “pocket” and sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper.

Bake until the eggs have set, about 15 minutes for a slightly runny yolk (I found it needed about twice that long). Serve with a side salad for a super simple brunch.

Yields: 4 Servings