Mini-Italian Club Sandwiches

I discovered this recipe on foodnetwork.com when I was looking for appetizers for our new year's eve party.  I'm super glad we made this for our party.  They were so tasty!  One loaf makes about 12 mini-sandwiches.

Image by Jason Hedlund

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
2 Tbsp whipping cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
10 slices bacon
1 (8oz) round loaf focaccia bread
8oz thinly sliced turkey
4oz thinly sliced provolone cheese

1 cup pesto:
1/2 cup olive oil
16 ounce fresh basil leaves
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1.  Whisk eggs, cream, salt and pepper in medium bowl until well blended.
2.  Heat a 6- inch diameter nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.  Brush skillet with butter and pour 1/4 cup of egg mixture into pan.  Swirl to coat bottom of pan evenly.
3.  Cover and cook until egg crepe is just set. (1.5 minutes)
4.  Invert over plate and make 3 more crepes, stacking on top of each other.
5.  Cook bacon in a heavy large frying pan until crisp and transfer to paper towels to drain.
6.  Cut the focaccia horizontally in half.
7.  To make pesto, put oil, basil and garlic in food processor until smooth.
8.  Spread pesto on both sides of bread, and start sandwich layers from the bottom up: crepe, turkey, bcaon, cheese, bacon, turkey, crepe. Enjoy!

Jason and Beth's Rating: 7/10

Nutrition:
288 calories
20g fat (6g saturated)
85mg cholesterol
640mg sodium
16g carbohydrates
1g fiber
1g sugar
11g protein

Vanilla Cupcakes

The second cupcake I made today was vanilla.  They are super yummy!  This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup heaping sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

1 2/3 cup self-rising flour

5 Tbsp milk

Frosting:

3/4 cup butter

3 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F. Line two 12-hole muffin pans with 24 paper liners.

2.  Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy.

3.  Gradually beat in eggs and fold in flour and milk.  Spoon batter in paper liners.

4.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until well risen and firm to touch.

5.  Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

6.  To make frosting, beat butter until creamy. Sift in powdered sugar and add milk, beat until well mixed.

7.  Put frosting in pastry bag and pipe on top of cooled cupcakes.

Jason and Beth's Rating: 7/10

Nutrition:

227 calories

14g fat (8g saturated)

70mg cholesterol

150mg sodium

25g carbohydrates

0g fiber

23g sugar

1g protein

Lemon Chocolate Butterfly Cupcakes

I held off for a whole day to make another cupcake.  I was so excited!  I made two cupcakes today, this was the first.  The recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1oz semisweet chocolate chips
9 Tbsp butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup heaping self-rising flour
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

Lemon Buttercream
7 Tbsp butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice

How to make them:
1.  Preheat oven to 350F and line one 12-hole muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
2.  Melt chocolate over simmering water in heat proof bowl.
3.  Beat together butter, sugar, flour, eggs and cocoa in a large bowl until it is just smooth.
4.  Beat in melted chocolate.  Spoon the batter into paper liners.
5.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until springy to the touch.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6.  To make frosting beat butter until creamy then gradually beat in powdered sugar to combine.
7.  Beat in lemon juice.
8.  When cupcakes are completely cooled, cut off top and then cut it in half.
9.  Frost cut surface and then place the two pieces of cupcake to form wings!  Enjoy!

Jason and Beth's Rating: 5/10

Nutrition for one cupcake:
310 calories
16g fat (10 saturated)
75mg cholesterol
270mg sodium
40mg carbohydrates
1g fiber
31g sugar
2g protein

Tuna Sushi

Today we wanted to try a different recipe so we had 6 other friends over to exchange secret santa gifts and to make Sushi!  It was super easy, fun and inexpensive.  The recipe makes 15 sushi rolls. (8 pieces each roll cut up).

Ingredients:
8oz Sushi grade Tuna
4 cups uncooked sushi rice
15 baby carrots, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
4 avocados
Seasame Seeds
15 nori-seaweed wraps
Gari-Pickled Ginger
Wasabi
Soy Sauce for dipping

Directions:

1. Cook rice in a pot with water according to directions on package of sushi rice.
2. Let rice cool in a casserole dish before using in sushi.
3. Lay out one nori sheet and put the rough side up.
4. Spread out rice on Nori sheet on all but one inch on the top:

    5.  Add vegetables and tuna on top of rice in a line.

    6.  Roll up Nori sheet tightly and then cut into pieces.

    7.  Add wasabi and gari to taste to each piece while dipping in soy sauce.

Jason and Beth's Rating: 8/10

Nutrition per roll:

193 calories

3g fat (1g saturated)

1mg cholesterol 

1mg sodium

37g carbohydrates

2g fiber

0g sugar

5g protein

Orange Cupcakes with Orange Flavored Frosting

Today I was jonsen for a dessert so I decided I wanted to make cupcakes.  My mom gave me the book: "1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and other tempting treats".  I used the first recipe in the book for orange cupcakes.  Unfortunately I wasn't completely successful.  My cupcakes didn't really rise, even though I used all the ingredients it called for and followed the directions.  I still do not know what went wrong, but they were still really tasty!  The recipe made 16 cupcakes (mini though).

Cupcake Ingredients:

8 Tbsp Butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

heaping 3/4 cup self-rising flour

grated rind of 1/2 orange

Icing Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar

about 2 Tbsp orange juice

Sprinkles for decorating

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 375F and line two 12-hole muffin pans with 16 paper liners.

2.     Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in eggs.  Add orange rind and then sift in flour and fold into mixture.

3.     Spoon batter into paper liners.

4.     Bake for 15-20 minutes.  

5.     Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

6.     Mix powdered sugar and just enough orange juice to make a smooth paste.  Frost cooled cupcakes.


Jason and Beth's Rating: 4/10

Nutrition per cupcake:

131 calories

6g fat (4g saturated)

42mg cholesterol

130mg sodium

18g carbohydrates

0g fiber

13g sugar

1g protein

Chicken Fingers with Chipotle-Honey

I wanted to make something with chicken tonight so I looked through all my books to find a tasty recipe.  Again I found a good recipe in Jason's new book: "Cook this, not that!".  This was a healthier version of Chili's Crispy Honey-Chipotle Crispers.  This recipe makes 4 servings.

Chicken Ingredients:

·         1.25lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         2 egg whites

Chipotle-Honey Sauce Ingredients:

·         ¼  tsp Ground Red Pepper

·         ½  tsp Aleppo Pepper-Ground Chilies

·         ¼  tsp Epazote Chopped

·         ¼  tsp Onion Powder

·         ¼ tsp Garlic Powder

·         ¼ tsp Ground Oregano

·         4 Tbsp Djion Mustard

·         2 Tbsp Honey

Breading Ingredients:

·         5 Wasa crackers

·         10 whole wheat ritz crackers

How to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.  Cut the thawed chicken breasts into strips.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl.  Mix and crush crackers for breading and place in a bowl.  Salt and pepper the breading too.  Dip each chicken strip in the egg white and then cover in breading crumbs.
2.  Place the breaded chicken on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 10-12 minutes until the breading has browned and the chicken is firm.
3.  Combine mustard, spices and honey in small bowl.  We tossed half the batch of chicken strips in the sauce so they are evenly coated and just dipped the other half batch in sauce.

Jason and Beth's Rating: 7/10

Nutrition per serving:

278 calories (versus 1930 calories in the Chili's version) 

7g fat (2g saturated)

70mg cholesterol

1300mg sodium

30g carbohydrates

3g fiber

9g sugar

31g protein

Popovers

John, my husband's brother-in-law gave me a popover pan for Christmas. I was super excited to use it so I made popovers tonight. This is my mother-in-law's recipe that my husband loves. These are not very healthy, but right out of the oven they are delicious! This recipe makes 6 servings (1 popover per serving).

Image by Jason Hedlund

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 ¼ cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 even pieces
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Honey butter Ingredients:
2 Tbsp salted butter
2 Tbsp honey

Directions:
1. Oil or spray with non-stick cooking spray popover. Preheat oven to 400° and set rack in middle of oven.
2. Preheat popover pan in oven about 2 minutes.
3. Blend flour, salt, eggs, milk and melted butter until mixture is consistency of heavy cream, 1-2 minutes.
4. Place 1 small piece of butter into each cup and place back in preheated oven until butter is bubbly, about 1 minute.
5. Fill each cup halfway with batter and bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300° and bake another 20 minutes.
6. Serve warm with honey butter!


Jason and Beth's Rating: 8/10

Nutrition of one serving:
245 calories
12g fat (7g saturated)
135mg cholesterol
260mg sodium
27g carbohydrates
1g fiber
9g sugar
7g protein

Blueberry Pancakes

I gave Jason the book: "Cook this, not that!" for Christmas this year.  This morning we were looking through the breakfast section and found this recipe.  It is a healthier version of IHOP Blueberry Pancakes.  This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 cup plain Greek style yogurt
• 1 cup 1% cottage cheese
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

How to make it:

• Mix 1 cup blueberries, water, and sugar in a saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the blueberries begin to break apart.  Whisk together the yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, and lemon juice in a bowl.
• Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.  Add the flour to the yogurt mixture and stir just until blended.
• Heat a large skillet or saute pan to medium-low heat.  We used a griddle to make multiple pancakes at a time and set it to 300F.
• Jason and I split the batter in half because he wanted to add frozen blueberries to the batter and I just wanted the blueberry syrup on top. (He added the remaining 0.5 cup blueberries to his batter)  Add batter in large spoonfuls (about 1/4 cup each) to the griddle.  Flip the pancakes when the tops being to bubble, 3-5 minutes, and cook the second side until browned.  Serve with the warm blueberries!

Jason and Beth's Rating: 6/10

Nutrition per serving:

273 calories (versus the 710 calories in the IHOP version)

5g fat (2g saturated)

170mg cholesterol

480mg sodium

40g carbohydrates

6g fiber

13g sugar

20g protein

Let the adventures begin!

Jason and I were trying to figure out a new year's project or resolution in the car ride home from a Christmas event.  I was inspired by Jason's Project 365 that he accomplished in 2011 and I wanted to try to get better at something.  I realized that I always have the urge to try new recipes, whether it is a dessert or a dinner. So that's when we decided we would try at least one new recipe per week for all of 2012.  We'll post pictures (taken by Jason) and the recipes each time we try something new.  It won't be hard finding the new recipes, since we have about 10 different recipe books (three of them were Christmas presents).  The hard part will be actually making the food and documenting it.