My 2010 blog review…

Even though our baby girl arrived this year, I did find some time here and there to keep up with my blog. I want to thank you for being so supportive of my blog and sharing my blog with your friends. May 2011 give us great new ideas and recipes to share with all! Happy New Year!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 14 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 67 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 86mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was January 7th with 188 views. The most popular post that day was Yes, ANOTHER food blog….

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, mail.live.com, sweetmarysunshine.blogspot.com, and quixoticagony.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for jenna knows, jenna knows best, jennaknows, chocolate popcorn, and boiled pasta.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Yes, ANOTHER food blog… January 2010
8 comments

2

Meatloaf, Jenna Style January 2010
7 comments

3

Steak Salad with Gorgonzola Crumbles and Dried Cranberries January 2010
4 comments

4

About Me January 2010
2 comments

5

Mixed Berry Slump November 2010
2 comments

Mixed Berry Slump

I do not claim to be a baker by any means. Can I bake? Yes. Do I enjoy baking? Eh, not overly. But sometimes, just sometimes one needs to warm up the oven, mix up something yummy and fill the air with delicious smells. Tonight was one of those nights. Once a year or so I dig out my berry slump recipe and enjoy a warm bowl! Hope you enjoy it too!

Mixed Berry Slump

4 cups of fresh (or thawed frozen) berries of your choice (I went with blackberries, blueberries, raspberries)

1/2-3/4 cups of sugar (depending on sweetness of fruit)

1 cup of flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk (I used 1/2 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of half and half)

1/4 sugar

2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Begin by adding your berries into an ungreased deep-dish glass or ceramic pie pan or a 5-6 cup gratin dish. Sprinkle evenly over berries 1/2-3/4 cups of sugar, depending on berry tartness.

Next, sift together your dry ingredients into a small mixing bowl. Add in your milk and melted butter. Whisk until smooth.

Pour mixture over berries. Don’t worry if berries aren’t completely covered.

Bake slump until golden brown, approx 45 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or half and half.

Savory Sweet Potato Soup

Fall is in the air and there is nothing I love more than the shift from grilled hotdogs and salads to the cozy comforts of soups and baked goods. There is just something about that crisp air that makes my heart jump for joy. I am a true fall lover.

I was inspired this morning to make up a batch of soup. I wanted something that smelled like fall, tasted like fall, felt like fall. I came across a delicous sounding recipe from a great cookbook from The Farm Chicks, http://www.thefarmchicks.com/ I was introduced to these gals by my dear friend. Their cookbook has a ton of delicious recipes, but this one was the winner for the day. It is a pretty simple recipe and really did the job of filling my kitchen and belly with the beauty of fall. Enjoy!

SAVORY SWEET POTATO SOUP, 6 generous servings

4 Tbsp butter (1/2 stick)

2 C finely chopped onion

1-2 cloves finely chopped garlic

6 C chicken broth

5 C peeled and cubed fresh sweet potatoes (or yams for more color)

5 C peeled and cubed russet potatoes

1 C peeled and shredded russet potato (to help thicken)

½ C heavy cream

3 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried parsley

½ salt

¼ black pepper

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add in onions and garlic, saute until tender.

Saute onions and garlic in butter

Add in diced sweet potatoes ( I used yams) and broth. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes, diced and shredded. Return the soup to a simmer and cook for another 10 minutes.

Stir in seasonings while simmering

*Optional Step- Puree some or all of the soup with a hand blender or a standard blender. I like a bit of the creamy, along with some chunky.

Immersion Blender

Finally stir in the cream. Cook over low heat, stirring often until heated through.

Serve and enjoy!

Iced Lattes

Yes, my last post was months ago. BUT… I am four and a half months pregnant!

Baby and I

 

So get used to it! It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.

I’ve had such good intentions to get new posts put onto my blog, but by the time I am home from work, nothing looks better than the couch/bed. My husband may be fading away from so few meals, but I seem to be growing just fine.

However, now that my energy is back up and my cravings are in full force, MAYBE you will get a few more posts in the next couple months.

Today we are nearing 90 degrees outside with a whole lot of darn humidity. Everyday I could drink an iced latte (of course, decaf for me). But these trips to Starbucks are starting to make me feel pretty guilty when I know that money should be going into the diaper fund. So, I decided to just start making my own. It is super easy to do and, I think, tastes just as good as Starbucks.

ICED LATTE, makes 10-12 servings

1 pot of your favorite coffee, strong brewed

1 cup of simple syrup

half and half

ice cubes

Start by making a full pot of coffee. Make it twice as strong as you typically would, it will be diluted by some  ice cubes and dairy. And in my opinion, why bother with a wimpy coffee. When the coffee is brewed, let it cool down a bit. Once cooled, transfer to a pitcher and place into fridge to chill.

Transfer strong brewed coffee to pitcher

While coffee is chilling, make a batch of Simple Syrup. I prefer simple syrup for my cold drinks, especially my iced lattes, because if you just add granulated sugar to a cold beverage it will not completely dissolve. You will have a heap of sugar at the bottom of your glass. Yuck.

Put equal parts, 1 cup water and 1 cup granulated sugar, into a pot. Bring to a boil. Boil until all sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute. When mixture looks like water again, remove from heat and let cool. Once cooled transfer to a container to store in the fridge. I like to use a glass jar. This will keep for a long time, all summer if not longer.

Make a batch of Simple Syrup

Once your simple syrup and coffee has cooled, grab yourself a tall glass of ice. Add in your dairy of choice. I prefer 1/2 and 1/2, because…why not. Fill the rest of the glass with coffee and add in simple syrup to your desired sweetness.

Add dairy, coffee, and syrup

Stir and enjoy iced lattes for days to come!

Of course your imagination is the limit with this recipe. Brew a flavored coffee, use no dairy, use soy, add some chocolate syrup instead of simple syrup, put in a splash of Kahlua for an adult-only beverage, use decaf coffee so you can enjoy a glass in the hot summer evening…use your imagination!

Chocolate Cranberry Quesadilla

Here is a very quick, easy, AND DELICIOUS treat to enjoy while watching the Oscars tonight! I think this can easily serve two people with as rich and decadent as it is! This recipe is a great one to use your imagination with when creating. Use peanut butter chips and bananas instead. Or how about dark chocolate chips and strawberries. The sky is the limit with this one! Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tortillas, white or wheat (8″ diameter)
1/4 cup chopped semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoon dried unsweetened cranberries

sprinkling of cinnamon

Directions

Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Place the tortillas in the pan. Toast for 1 minute on each side or until warm but still pliable. Sprinkle on the chips and cranberries onto one tortilla and top it with the other. Gently press together and cook for 30 seconds or until the chocolate starts to melt.

Add toppings to warm tortilla

 Dust lightly with cinnamon. Cut into 4 wedges and enjoy!

Enjoy!

Korean Beef in Lettuce Cups

Now you can’t expect to get an apron for your birthday, from me, and not expect it to be put to use…right away. My dear friend Lindsay quickly found this out. I believe Lindsay likes to over-think cooking, in turn making it scary and intimidating for herself. When I told her what we were making, immediately she was certain that she would not be able to make this recipe, but I think I was pretty successful in showing her how easy (and not scary) it was to create a delicious meal! I think she even had fun making it! Thanks for the help Lindsay!

Korean Beef in Lettuce Cups, serves 4 (1 serving 3 cups)

3 tablespoons 100% fruit orange marmalade

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 cup canola oil

1 pound 93% lean ground beef

8 scallions, sliced

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped

12 Boston or bibb lettuce leaves

1. Whisk together the marmalade, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.

*Tip: Peel fresh ginger with a spoon!

Gather ingredients for sauce

Grate ginger or buy in the jar "fresh" ginger

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the beef, scallions, carrots, and pepper for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often, or until the beef is browned and cooked through. Add the soy mixture and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until well blended.

Saute until beef is cooked through

3. Spoon the beef mixture into the lettuce leaves and serve, or roll like a wrap to eat.

Enjoy!

Chocolate-Drizzled Popcorn

I just can’t help it…another recipe with popcorn! I LOVE POPCORN! The best part of this recipe is that it is from the diet I am currently torchering myself with, The Flat Belly Diet, but you would never guess that because it taste SO sinful. Yes, it is a diet, but really its more of a lifestyle change. You really don’t have to suffer too much. Heck, you get to have chocolate popcorn after all and one serving is 3 cups, not 1 Tbsp. like many diets would be. The main belief with this diet is portion control, calorie watching, and changing out what you normally would eat with a healthier version.

Anywho, sorry, this isn’t a blog about dieting, its a blog about delicious food. So, here’s another delicious recipe for you to try tonight while hunkering down with a movie….

CHOCOLATE DRIZZLED POPCORN, serves 4 

12 cups air-popped popcorn
1/2 cup roasted cashews (MUFA), unsalted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (MUFA)

1. Spread the popcorn and cashews on a large baking sheet. (I just used a big bowl)

2. Bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer over medium heat. Place the chips in a small bowl and set over the simmering water, being careful to keep the water from touching the bowl containing the chocolate. Stir often until the chocolate is melted. (OR do what I did, toss them into the microwave, stir every 30 seconds until melted.) While hot, use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn in a back-and-forth motion.  (I stirred my in the bowl, coating all of the popcorn in chocolate) Let cool at room temperature for about 20 minutes or until the chocolate sets. (I wanted chocolate and I wanted popcorn NOW, so I grabbed a big spoon and began to shovel. No waiting for chocolate to set for this gal!)

 Nutritional Info Per Serving: 392 cal, 7 g pro, 51 g carb, 6 g fiber, 22 g fat, 9 g sat fat, 0 mg chol, 9 mg sodium

Chocolate Popcorn!

 

Photo belongs to http://www.michelesweetshoppe.com/

Curried Quinoa with Chicken

Hold onto your hats my Minnesota followers! I am going to challenge you, I am going to dare you to step away from the potato, put down the ketchup, ignore the roast in the freezer and try Quinoa. What!?! Quinoa? Q-U-I-N-O-A, pronounced KEEN-waa. Quinoa is a quick, healthy alternative to rice or pasta. 

It is an amazing “new” food that is a grain that comes from the Andes Mountains of South America. Quinoa’s origins are truly ancient. It was one of the three staple foods, along with corn and potatoes, of the Inca civilization. Quinoa was known then, and still is known, with respect, as the mother grain. We call it the “Supergrain of the Future.” 

  

Quinoa contains  more protein than any other grain; an average of 16.2  percent, compared with 7.5 percent for rice, 9.9 percent for millet, and 14 percent for wheat. Some varieties of quinoa are more than 20 percent protein.  

  

Quinoa’s protein is of an unusually high quality. It is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance close to the ideal … similar to milk! 

  

To learn so many more wonderful facts about Quinoa click here… http://www.quinoa.net  

  

Alright, now that we’ve had class and you’re getting ready to go to a much more exciting website, one that isn’t forcing these weird recipes at you, I ask you to please continue on. This dish combines pungent Mediterranean and Indian flavors for a quick, HEALTHY, AND DELICIOUS meal! 

As I tell my 7-year-old, just try it once. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it again. But you never know…you may just like it! 

Curried Quinoa with Chicken, makes 4 servings 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1 small onion, chopped 

1 clove garlic, minced 

3/4 cup quinoa* 

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 

1/2 teaspoon cumin 

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 1/2 cups chicken stock 

1 diced cooked chicken breast 

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts 

1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped 

1/2 cup diced cucumber 

1/8 fresh chopped parsley 

*Found in natural health food stores or in the natural/healthy/organic section of your grocery store 

*Make vegetarian by just leaving out chicken and use vegetable stock, plenty of protein with quinoa itself for a meal 

Directions 

~I sauteed my chicken breast with just a bit of olive oil and toasted my pine nuts in a dry pan just until golden brown. 

Saute Chicken (or bake, grill, etc)

 

Toast pine nuts in dry pan over med-high heat (Watch carefully!)

 

~Stir together the olive oil, onion, and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. 

 

~Stir in the quinoa, curry powder, salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes until the quinoa is tender. 

 

Bring to boil, cover, lower heat, simmer...

 

~Once the quinoa has finished cooking, stir in the diced chicken, toasted pine nuts, cucumbers, fresh parsley and dried cranberries. Serve warm or cold. 

Enjoy!

 

If you try this dish, please leave me a comment about what you thought of it…good or bad. However, I really hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do!

Creamy Tomato Soup, topped with popcorn

In Minnesota last week we were teased with balmy tropical weather of 30-some degrees. Honestly, we are thrilled with those temps in January. Only in Minnesota will you see people skipping around town in just a sweatshirt and jeans when it is 36 degrees because it is SO nice out. Sadly, as always, we were quickly brought back to the reality of winter in Minnesota. Today our high is going to be 8 degrees, a pretty typical January day.

When the weather is this frigid, nothing warms my belly and soul more than a kettle of homemade soup. Tonight I indulged in Creamy Tomato Soup. I received the original recipe for this soup over 10 years ago from a food demonstration being held at Macy’s. I am quite sure at that age I was much more excited about getting free food then whatever product they were selling and little did I know that this recipe would enter my permanent file when I had that little plastic spoonful of joy so many years ago. Not only is this soup yummy and comforting, but it is so quick and easy to make. You can have your hot bowl of soup in about 20 minutes.

But where does popcorn fit into this recipe? Once again, when I was young and poor I was enjoying a bowl of my tomato soup. I really wanted some crackers to toss into it, but my house had none. But what it did have was popcorn. My house always has popcorn! Honestly, I believe I am 75% popcorn. It is a staple food in my diet. So I figured…why not? I tossed some into my soup and I was hooked. I’ve been eating it that way ever since. Be daring…give it a try!

Creamy Tomato Soup, serves 6

4 Tbsp. butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 Tbsp. flour

2 cans of tomatoes

1-2 Tbsp. tomato paste (optional)

2 c. chicken stock/broth

1 bay leaf

1 tsp of salt

½ tsp of black pepper

½ tsp of sugar (optional)

3 c milk

1 c half and half

Fresh popped popcorn (optional)

~Begin by melting butter over medium heat in a medium sized pot. Add in chopped onion and garlic. Cook until soft.

Cook onions and garlic until soft

~Stir in flour. Cook for 1-2 minutes to remove “raw” flour taste.

Mix in Flour

Cook flour/butter mixture

~Slowly stir in broth. I used water and chicken bouillon. Use whatever you have- bouillon, stock, broth, etc. Turn heat up a bit and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally. Once it is to a boil it will be to it maximum thickness.

~Stir in tomatoes. Again, whatever you have on hand is fine. Today I had a can of stewed tomatoes and a can of diced tomatoes. If you wish, add in a tablespoon or two of tomato paste. This will help give the tomatoes more depth.

Stir in tomatoes and paste

 

~At this time also add in your bay leaf, salt (judge accordingly, based on the stock you used), black pepper, and sugar. The sugar helps level out the acid in the tomato.

Add in your seasonings

~Lower heat. Simmer 10 minutes

~At this point, if you want, you can add your soup into a blender to purée into a thicker, creamier soup. For me, it is thick and creamy enough. Plus, I love the chunks of tomatoes throughout. But you do what is best for you and your taste buds!

~Stir in milk and cream. Bring back up to temperature.

Stir in dairy

~Once warmed through pour yourself a bowl and top with popcorn! The popcorn gets soggy pretty quickly, so my technique is to toss a few kernels in at a time and scoop them right up into my spoon. I think it’s a great spin on plain ol’ crackers. If you’re feeling really nostalgic, whip up a grilled cheese sandwich!

Stay Warm and Enjoy!

Spiced Kettlecorn

This recipe I cannot take credit for, it came from Gwyneth Paltrow’s blog… http://GOOP.com Well, it isn’t her recipe either, but she gives credit to the creators of it on her blog. If you’ve never checked out her blog, I suggest taking a lookey lou. She offers great tips on all aspects of life. It may be a great recipe, a cute store to check out, or a new way to meditate. Stop by her blog, you’ll like it.

Anywho, back to the point of this post…POPCORN. I know I already posted a recipe today, but since it is Saturday night I am going to assume I am not the only 30-something sitting at home, in front of the TV watching another episode of Divine Design on HGTV. If your weekend highlights have come to this as well, let me at least offer you a new twist to an old favorite. Hope you like it as much as I do….

Spiced Kettlecorn, makes 15 handfuls

My Spiced Kettlecorn

• ¼ cup butter
• 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
• ½ cup corn kernels
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Once it’s melted, add the oil, corn kernels and sugar stirring to make sure everything is well-combined. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook on medium-low (anything higher and you will have burnt popcorn/caramel) heat until kernels stop popping. Be sure to shake the pot once or twice to make sure the kernels are cooking evenly. Remove from heat and immediately add the salt and spices, tossing to coat.

http://goop.com/newsletter/60/en/