Salad in a Jar — Or… how to eat dessert without dieting

Spicy Mango and Cranberry Cream Cheese Appetizer

January 25, 2012

Habaneros give this recipe a kick your guests will love.

My friend Tamara was my husband’s friend first. Not in a romantic way, I don’t think, just a friend. They went to church together as kids, so I inherited our friendship. And I’m glad I did. The amount of blackmail material I’ve squeezed out of her should last for several years.

Seriously, God has used Tamara to teach me a few things about caring for elderly parents, hospitality, and being joyful when life isn’t. She’s a good cook, too. This oft-requested recipe is just one example.

You’ve probably already seen various toppings poured over a block of cream cheese, but this cheese has Gorgonzola added which contributes a certain something special you will be hard-pressed to identify. But the best part is the sauce–Mango Green Apple Habanero Sauce by Cookwell. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find, but it’s available online, so I decided to go ahead and share it. In Texas, it is available at some H-E-B stores (found mine in Burleson). I am guessing jalapeno pepper jelly would be a good substitute if you can’t find the mango sauce.

Tamara's Spicy Mango and Cranberry Cream Cheese Appetizer

This goes together quickly. Seems like a great idea for a Super Bowl party!

Click here to see the recipe.

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Which Vacuum-Pack Machine Should I Buy to Make Salad in a Jar?

January 18, 2012

Next to questions about the feasibility of adding veggies to salad in a jar (answered here), readers ask me most often which vacuum-pack machine to buy. I’ve done some homework and tried out a few different systems to save you the trouble and give you some choices.

A simple FoodSaver vacuum-pack machine with the requisite port needed for the wide-mouth attachment

When I started vacuum-packing salads, I used a FoodSaver machine like the one above. I ordered the wide-mouth attachment and purchased wide-mouth (easier to seal and fill than regular-mouth) quart-size glass canning jars. Unless you have great plans to vacuum-pack most of the food in your refrigerator and freezer, you don’t need a fancy machine. However, to make salad in a jar my way, you must have the following:

a port on the machine (see picture above)
the wide-mouth attachment (ordered separately)
a hose

Please note the hose comes with the machine, not the attachment. You can order a replacement hose here.

The reuseable flat lid goes on top of the jar inside the attachment when lettuce is ready to be vacuum-packed. Once sealed, remove the attachment and place the metal collar on top of the flat lid as insurance to keep the jar sealed in the refrigerator.

I still love my FoodSaver and use it occasionally, but I’ve found some cheaper and space-saving alternatives.

Click here to get more ideas.

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6-Minute Strawberry-Balsamic Sauce

January 11, 2012

6- Minute Strawberry Balsamic Sauce tastes fabulous spooned over my homemade Greek yogurt.

It can be difficult to find flavorful and reasonably priced strawberries in the wintertime. So how’s a person to get their strawberry fix? Try this strawberry balsamic sauce with frozen strawberries.

Frankly, if I can’t get good, fresh strawberries, frozen ones are not an option for me unless I’m making a smoothie– until now. When cooked in the microwave, frozen strawberries are transformed into a thick and richly flavored sauce. Some would call it a reduction but I call it perfect for pouring over yogurt and ice cream. I can’t stop thinking of other possibilities such as pound cake or waffles.

What led me to this discovery was an assignment by the California Strawberry Commission to come up with a healthy recipe using frozen strawberries. Since smoothies and ice cream have already been done a few zillion times, I decided to try making a healthy strawberry dressing using strawberries prepared in a similar way. Jump over to their blog to read the tasty results.

HOW TO MAKE STRAWBERRY-BALSAMIC SAUCE IN THREE EASY STEPS!

Chop 1-1/2 cup frozen berries–a little smaller than seen here.

Place in nothing smaller than a 1-quart Pyrex bowl. Add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar to uncooked strawberries or leave it out if you prefer.

Cook in the microwave for 6 minutes, UNCOVERED, no stirring necessary. Sauce thickens as it cools.

This will remind you of strawberry preserves except it’s a little thinner and not as sweet unless you add sugar or sweetener. If I want it sweeter, depending on what I’m serving it with, I start with 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey or 2 packets of Splenda and go from there.

Shopping tip: Frozen strawberries are significantly more economical in the big box stores. Worth a trip.

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Now Showing… “How to Make Healthy Homemade Greek Yogurt–Fat-Free”

January 2, 2012

Few things inspire me to sing God’s praises more than watching him create new life. Whether it’s a tiny heartbeat on the screen of my ultrasound machine or a new batch of yogurt (made from live cultures) coming out of my kitchen, they are both an amazing work of God. In both cases, we humans get to initiate the action by creating the right environment.

You’ll have to figure out the heartbeat formula on your own but I have a new video to help you with the yogurt–specifically, Greek yogurt. Hopefully, you will be inspired to give it a try.

If you still have questions, check out my older posts below.

P.S. If you make it to the end of the video, we included a blooper just for fun. Extra points if you can tell me the color of my neighbor’s car. And one other thing: I really do have more than one shirt in my closet. Those of you who watched my other videos on making salad in a jar and/or making perfectly round dinner rolls may be wondering. Lesson learned for the next time we shoot more than one video in a day.

Greek Yogurt 101

How to Make Healthy Homemade Greek Yogurt (Fat-Free)

Don’t Fear the Homemade Yogurt

How to Strain Yogurt the Easy Way

Answers to Your Questions About Making Homemade Yogurt

More Than Six Ways to Incubate Yogurt Without a Yogurt Maker

A Discussion About Protein in Greek Yogurt

18 Ways to Use Whey–a By-Product of Greek Yogurt

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Graham Cracker Party Bar Including a DIY S’mores Table-Top Grill

December 26, 2011

A graham cracker party bar makes a festive and unusual dessert for a New Year’s celebration or any gathering of special friends.

Offer your guests the choice to make s’mores and/or to slather graham crackers with a choice of spreads:

Nutella,
flavored cream cheese
peanut butter
cream cheese icing
cookies and cream icing
chocolate frosting
Biscoff spread
jelly or preserves

This is perfect for a relaxed, sit-down meal or a buffet/party where people linger around the food.

Kids love it too. Adult supervision required, of course.

Do-it-Yourself Table-top Marshmallow Grill

You can buy a miniature table-top grill at the store–if you can find one, for 30$ and up. But it’s easy to make them yourself. It’s nice to have more than one if you are serving more than 4 people.

I first used a soup mug and an old apple corer I just happened to find in my kitchen drawer.

If you don’t have the same, you can also make a table-top grill with a clay pot, hardware cloth (available at a hardware store by the inch or foot) and a can of Sterno.

Invert pot and trace shape of 4-inch clay pot onto a sturdy piece of hardware cloth.
Cut hardware cloth with wire snippers and trim if necessary to barely fit inside. You need to be able to remove and replace the wire easily to change the Sterno.
Use a can of Sterno to provide the heat.(In case you’re wondering, Sterno is a formulation of denatured alcohol, water and gel. It’s what they use in commercially sold table-side marshmallow roasters. You can read more about it here.) Sterno comes in more than one size. Buy one that will sit on the bottom of the pot with at least 1-2 inches of clearance from the top.

Graham Cracker Party Bar Guide:

Graham crackers: I like to make my own honey wheat graham crackers (see recipe below) but the store-bought crackers are sufficient. I recommend including a variety. The homemade chocolate crackers are most popular and fabulous with the various spreads.
Chocolate: I prefer to melt chocolate bars suitable for eating in the microwave (your choice, but milk chocolate is traditional), spread it thin (see the picture of the s’more above) on wax paper, chill, and then cut in squares about the same size as the crackers. Again, a variety of different chocolates makes the tray interesting.
Marshmallows: If you are a candy maker, trying making your own in different flavors just as maple, coffee, or orange. I’m not a candy maker so I can’t recommend a recipe. Store-bought marshmallows work fine too.
Roasting Sticks: Wooden or metal k-bob sticks.
Spreads: Several have been mentioned already. My favorite is the cookies and cream frosting. If your party includes kids, they might enjoy a plain buttercream frosting with colored sprinkles or chocolate chips.

Homemade Honey Wheat Graham Crackers–The Recipe (with a Chocolate and Cinnamon Variation)

You don’t have to make your own graham crackers but doing so will make your graham cracker bar a more memorable event. Making them yourself means you can experiment with the spices. It also means you can roll them out thinner–more like a wafer. I MUCH prefer them over the thicker crackers. Using zippered plastic bags is much easier than the traditional method of rolling out the dough on a floured cutting board and transferring each cracker to a cookie sheet.

Click here for the graham cracker recipe

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