Antipasto Salad

 For those of you who like a good Antipasto Salad but don't have the time to deal with all of the chopping of vegetables and other ingredients, here is a quick easy way to make this yummy salad.  In the produce section at the grocery stores you find precut bags of veggies, I say take advantage of this and make your life easier and, should you be cooking for a large crowd or going to a potluck or party; this is a great time saver.  That being said this recipe I chopped everything myself because I had all of the ingredients in my fridge, and I had to use soon or else 😉.  You can calculate what you have to buy by the weight or amount I use, Provecho!

Ingredients: 

• 1 green pepper chopped
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• 1 red onion chopped
• 1 cup mushroom cut in quarters
• 1/2 cup olive sliced (your choice of olives)
• 1 lb. asparagus cut into thirds then quickly blanch (broccoli ok)
• 1 small container of cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1/2 lb. dry salami, chopped (not thin slides) 
• 1/4 lb. genoa salami, chopped
• 1/2 lb. pasta or your choice shells, orecchiette, twist, penne, cooked and drained
• 1/2 lb. feta cheese
• Italian dressing 1/2 cup, store bought or easily make your own
• Dressing:
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 T dry oregano
• 1 T dry thyme
• 1 t red pepper flakes
• 1 T parmesan cheese
• S & P

Directions:

After pasta has been cooked and cooled put in large bowl and add all ingredients, sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese just for fun. If you are making your own dressing, mix vinegar and olive oil together then add dry ingredients. This salad will do great overnight, so you can mix everything together and put in large gallon size food bags and flip a few times, great for large groups. Drain most of the liquid before serving. 

                               PUMPKIN BREAD                     

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!

We're experiencing our first fall like weather, gloomy, rainy, windy and of course leaves blowing everywhere; therefore a perfect day for my first baking project of the season.  Pumpkin loaf bread comes to mind and thank goodness I had all of the ingredients at hand. This recipe is something I have put together from three different recipes I had tried before.  Also, this recipe makes two loaves and I have one each cast iron and regular non-stick stainless steel pan.  After I gathered all of the ingredients I actually took the time to properly prep my pans ahead of time and it made things for smoother at the end 😉.     This is a gluten free, sugar free recipe but of course you can make it with regular flour and sugar, same quantities.

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
•  1/2 cup ghee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 cup stevia or sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 15 oz can pumpkin puree
  
• 3 1/2 cups gluten free flour or regular flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice) a combo or any
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons pepitas
• 3 tablespoons room temperature butter, 1 1/2 t sugar, 2 t pumpkin pie spice

I lined my loaf pans (2) with parchment paper, one piece along the length and one along the width which makes it easy to lift bread out of pan at the end.  In small bowl mix soft butter, 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice. Apply this paste over the parchment paper.

 

Heat oven to 350*

Pant roast pepitas with a very small amount of butter, add a little sea salt at end.

In medium bowl combine eggs and sugars, mix well.  Add vegetable oil, ghee, vanilla, water and pumpkin puree, combine all ingredients. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, spice blend and salt. Mix all ingredients till incorporated but don't over blend.

Fill baking pans and smooth top, sprinkle the pepitas mixture and lightly press in.  Bake in oven for 50 minutes and check by inserting a toothpick in center and it comes out clean.  Cool pans completely then lift parchment paper for easy removal from pan.  Enjoy!

PS:  note on the two different pans, CAST iron wins!

 

Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes

 Since I had a lot of blueberries and ricotta from previous recipe I decided to make one of my Holiday breakfast meals which my husband loves and has been thinking about them since I told him about it yesterday.  This recipe I found at Driscoll's  (the berries company) website years ago and of course I'm now going at it keto style, gluten free, sugar free and dairy free.

Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes - Gluten, sugar and dairy free

Ingredients:

• 1 cup gluten free flour of choice
• 1/4 cup granulated stevia
• 1 teaspoon baking powder - aluminum free
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dairy free ricotta 
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or any milk you like)
• 2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 oz blueberries - a small package
• 2 eggs - separated  (Celia and Chris this does not mean distance apart, separate yolks from whites

Directions:

You'll need a griddle, comal or heavy bottom pan, vegetable oil

In a small bowl combine dry ingredients. In medium size bowl whisk together the ricotta, milk, egg yolks, vanilla and lemon zest.  In another bowl mix egg whites with hand mixer till soft forms peak.  To ricotta and other wet ingredients add dry ingredients until completely incorporated then fold in egg whites.  On to the greased hot griddle add about 1/2 cup of the batter for each pancake (mine were about 5" in diameter and made six from recipe), then scatter blueberries over top, when sides begin to brown turn and cook a couple more minutes.  You can serve with your syrup of choice of course, Enjoy!

 

Breakfast Cake (keto)

 Ina Garten's Blueberry Ricotta Breakfast Cake

Hello everyone, on my first post this year I would like to share another one of my remastered recipes from my favorite chef, Ina Garten; where I am attempting to cook and bake keto and sugar free some of her recipes.  This a very simple and delicious recipe, perfect for winter mornings with a nice cuppa of tea.  One thing to remember it's that this remastered recipe will be a little denser than a traditional flour and sugar recipe but, for me is perfect.  Of course you can use regular flour and sugar and end up with the original version of this cake.

 Breakfast Cake (keto)

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9-inch round spring form pan.

Ingredients:

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated Stevia, for baking
• 3 extra large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 1/4 cup almond flour-keto style (or flour of choice or combo 1/2 regular +1/2 almond)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  
• 2 cups fresh blueberries, divided
• Zero calories confectioners sugar such as Swerve, for dusting

Place butter and sugar in a bowl of electric mixer or hand mixer and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time and beat on low, mixing well after each addition.  Add the ricotta, sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest and mix well. (The batter will look curdled).

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter, mixing just to incorporate all ingredients, due not over mix.  Fold in 2/3 of the blueberries into the batter.  Transfer to the prepared springform pan and smooth the top.  Scatter the remaining blueberries on the cake and lightly press them into the surface.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes.  Remove the sides of the pan and lightly dust the top with confectioner's sugar, enjoy!

 

Halloween Cake Pops Keto, Sugar-free, Vegan

 Hello Everyone, here we are with all of the family and friends Holidays upon us and I am particularly fond of Halloween because there no rules and everything goes (within reason). My husband and I used to go all out with our decor, him doing the outside of the house and I, the inside but, since the last 10 years we have been away from civilization and no trick or treaters, no more fun for us. So now is just low key and I have to be satisfied making stuff for other people and shipping away.  I just made these cake pops for my grand-babies to enjoy and since their diet restrictions are limiting in the Halloween fun, I found this cake mix, frosting and chocolate chips which are sugar free and keto and super delicious.  In order to get the right consistency for cake pops, they must be made using a commercial cake box mix (baking from scratch not recommended here) and I was able find this particular brand which did the work.  FYI, this recipe could also be made with regular mix, butter and chocolate, same ratios.

 

Brownie Cake Pops

Serves 20 each                                                Prep time  4 hrs

• 1 Box Miss Jones Keto & Paleo fudgy brownie mix
• 1 container Miss Jones Chocolate frosting
• 1 package cake pop sticks
• 1 heavy Styrofoam block or similar to hold cake pops while decorating
  
• 1 package cake pop bags (optional)
  
• 1 9 oz Bag Lily's Sugar Free baking chips
  
• 1T coconut oil, canola or vegetable
• Decorating candy coating (optional) or coconut or other fruit 

Bake the brownie baking mix according to directions, you can decide if you want this vegan, vegetarian, paleo or anything else your dietary preference requires.  After finished baking cool completely.  Once cool put in a bowl and crumble with hands till its nice and crumbly add 1/4 cup of the frosting and keep adding till it sticks together (no more than 1/2 can of frosting), put in fridge for about 20-30 minutes.  You need to have your dense Styrofoam block about 8" X 10" or cake pop holder ready to go, if using Styrofoam block, using a cake pop stick, pierce about 20 wholes on block about 2" apart. Take bowl out of fridge and with your hands or mold form a ball about 1 1/2" round, lightly dip a cake pop stick in the frosting about 1/2" in one side, insert into cake pop ball and stick into Styrofoam block holder.  Continue with the rest of the cake mix till done.  Put in freezer for about 20 minutes.

 

While cake pops are in freezer, make chocolate coating.  Melt chocolate baking chips either by double boiler or microwave oven, once melted add the vegetable oil, this is important because it will make the coating nice and shinny.  The melted chocolate coating needs to be in a deep bowl because cake pops will be dipped in it to coat thoroughly. When you dip cake pop do it sideways and slowly turn to completely coat ball, lift from bowl and continue turning cake pop till it stops dripping.  Place in block and continue with rest. If decorating with a topping sprinkle before it dries, before placing in block.  Put in freezer about 1 hr.  After that I individually place a cake pop bag and tie at bottom to get ready for shipping.

 

 Happy Halloween Everyone!

Italian Beef Sandwiches - Easy

 As many of you know my husband Bill is from Chicago and he loves Italian Beef Sandwiches and  Pizza from the south side of Chicago not  deep dish.  I myself not being a fan of beef or pizza, not impressed!  In the past we have ordered directly from a deli in Chicago, Portillo's,  Bill can't even pronounce that and he says "Portello's" heehee.  Well I've come with a quick and easy solution for at home Chicago style Italian Beef, the trick is using the same Giardiniera topping that Portillo's uses.  I searched for a long time to find it and, of course I found it on Amazon.  It comes in both hot & mild, I combine both because the hot it's extremely hot!  Another time saver is buying London Broil (not roast beef) from the grocery's store deli, you don't have roast the beef first then thinly slice it because, who has time for that. This easy recipe can be put together in less than 15 minutes if you have everything prepped ahead of time. And without further ado Ryan, here it is:

 

Italian Beef Sandwiches 

Serves:  4                                        Prep time: 15 minutes

• 1 lb London Broil
• Marconi Giardiniera Topping (Amazon)
• 12 oz Beef Broth 
• 4 Hoagie Rolls
• 1/2 t Italian Seasoning
• 1 t Corn Starch 
• Lots of Paper Napkins

In a saucepan heat up the broth and bring to simmer, add Italian Seasoning and corn starch, mix together.  While the broth heats up separate the London broil for easier dipping.  You can heap up the rolls if you want, then split them long side.  Once broth has thickened up a bit and its nice and hot, you can start dipping the meat in the broth till its warm, no more than a couple of minutes, keep broth over fire.  Plate dishes with hoagie rolls, warm London broil, top with as much Marconi Giardiniera that you like and, a small container with extra broth for pouring over sandwiches, Bon Apetito!

Naila at the Beach

 While editing my photos today I found this little pastel drawing I did of my beautiful little granddaughter Naila, at Harvey Beach in Cambria, she was 2 years old then, 4 now.