spinach dip

I found this recipe on Facebook, a site called Raw Recipe a Day. She has some great recipes on there. I just made this one and everyone liked it:

Spinach Dip

4 cups spinach
1 large avocado or 2 small avocados
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon herbs or herb seasoning (I used mrs. dash's table blend)
(I also added a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, but her recipe didn't call for it because it's not raw)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
Eat with cut up raw veggies.

It was really good, and super easy, so I thought I'd share with with you guys!

pork sandwich

It’s a miracle! I’m posting a recipe J

This is from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook (I know, I know, Marianne got rid of hers because the food wasn’t that good…but a lot of it IS). Every time I make this, Chris says it’s his favorite, so I decided I should share it with you, too.

First you make the herbed pork tenderloin, then you can make the coleslaw to go on the sandwich. Here’s my adaptation of the recipe:

Herbed pork tenderloin:

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried, but fresh is better)

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (or 1 tsp dried)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 pork tenderloin (the recipe calls for just a loin roast, but tenderloin is better)

2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350* then mix the ingredients together and rub it all over the tenderloin. You can either grill the tenderloin on each side until the outside browns, or you can brown it in a pan. I like to use a pre-heated cast iron grill. Once brown, stick the entire pan in the oven for 30 minutes. Slice into thin slices and put on bread or buns along with a scoop of coleslaw on top.

Coleslaw with orange-cilantro vinaigrette:

¼ cup plain yogurt

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup 100% orange juice (preferably freshly squeezed or “not from concentrate”)

3 tablespoons white vinegar

1 ½ teaspoon honey

package shredded cabbage with carrots (about 10 oz)

½ cup slivered red onion

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

Mix it all together (it says to refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but I’ve used it immediately and it tastes fine) and scoop onto the pork sandwich.

enjoy J

Asian Wonton Salad

2 heads romaine lettuce
3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded (I marinated them in some of the Sweet Sesame dressing)
cherry tomatoes
1 red onion, sliced thinly
1 cucumber, sliced
1 package wontons
vegetable oil for frying
cashews
Sweet Sesame Dressing

Heat about 1 inch of oil in a pot on the stove top. Use pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut wontons into thirds (3 strips). You may not need the entire package, depending on how much salad you're making. I usually use about half of the wonton wrappers. You'll want the oil at about 375 degrees. Test by dipping a wonton in and seeing if it bubbles up quickly. Fry wontons a few at a time and set on paper towels to dry. These can be made ahead of time and kept in an air tight container.

Tear clean lettuce into chunks and place in a large salad bowl. Top with cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber, and red onion. Add shredded chicken and top with Sweet Sesame Dressing. Toss salad together. Once everything is well coated, add wonton strips and gently toss to combine.


Dressing:
2/3 C rice vinegar
1 C canola oil
2 Tbs sesame oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed or very finely minced
2 Tbs soy sauce
1/2 C sugar
4 Tbs sesame seeds

Place all ingredients into a quart jar (or something equivalent) and shake vigorously. If desired, make ahead of time and store in the fridge

Carmel Apple Cheesecake

Hooray! I have been trying to re-find this recipe since I made it for Thanksgiving. Lesson I learned - never throw out the recipe you print online cause it might be really hard to find again. But anyways, here it is. One of the best cheesecakes I have made. Next time I will try it with a gingerbread crust.


Crust:
Several large handfuls of vanilla wafers
6 tablespoons butter

Blend in food processor until it come together. Press into bottom of springform pan, and bake for 10 minutes or so until it's kinda firm and not going to float away when you add filling.


Apple Layer:
2 tablespoons butter
3 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
3 tablespoons brown sugar
glug maple syrup (I think this means a little bit :). I probably used 1 TB)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
a touch of powdered ginger
a touch of all spice
a touch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Saute apples with butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup until there is liquid from the apples in the pan. Add spices and cornstarch, continuing to cook over medium heat until apples are soft but not mushy, and there is a nice syrup. Smoothly layer onto cooked crust.


Cheesecake:
3- 8 oz packages of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons flour
1/4 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Whip cream cheese and sugar in electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated before adding the next one. In a small bowl, combine the cream and flour, stirring until smooth. Add to cream cheese mixture, along with vanilla bean paste. Mix until smooth and well blended. Pour slowly on top of apples (be careful here so you don't dislodge the apples).

Bake in a water bath for about 55 minutes at 325. Center should be set but jiggly when you pull it out. Cool, the refrigerate until serving. Right before serving, top with caramel sauce.


Caramel Sauce:
6 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cream

Melt butter and brown sugar together over medium heat, until it boils. Cook for several minutes until mixture is thick and fragrant (like, say, caramel!). Add cream, and stir until combined. If your cream is cold, it may seize the caramel mixture and bubble furiously. Just keep stirring over the heat until it comes together. Cool until ready to top cheesecake.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

They were sampling this at Costco the other day and I thought I would try it out on my own. Turned out pretty tasty but it was time consuming. I made the whole package of wonton wrappers and froze what we didn't eat to eat another time.

4 C Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tsp Brown Sugar
1 C Ricotta Cheese
2 T chopped fresh sage
3 T chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 package wonton wrappers
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss squash with oil, salt, pepper, and brown sugar in a roasting pan. Add 1/4 C water and cover with foil. Roast 30 minutes until very tender.

Drain squash well, return to pan, and mash with fork. Return, uncovered, to the oven and bake for 10 minutes to dry out.

Add cheese, sage, parsley, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend well. Distribute by tablespoons onto wonton wrappers. Moisten the edge of the wonton wrapper with water and carefully pinch together.

Cook in boiling water in batches until they float. To keep from sticking, toss in olive oil. Serve with Alfredo sauce.

Alfredo Sauce:

1/4 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:
1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve

Sausage Casserole

Matt found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and wanted to have it for Christmas morning. So we decided to make it and it turned out very delicious.

• 1 pound sage flavored breakfast sausage
• 3 cups shredded potatoes, drained and pressed
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 12 ounces mild Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup onion, shredded
• 1 (16 ounce) container small curd cottage cheese
• 6 jumbo eggs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch square baking dish.
2. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
3. In the prepared baking dish, stir together the shredded potatoes and butter. Line the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the mixture. In a bowl, mix the sausage, Cheddar cheese, onion, cottage cheese, and eggs. Pour over the potato mixture.
4. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the casserole comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: I browned onions with the sausage and instead of 6 eggs I used 8. Everything else was perfect. Some reviewers also suggested that you can use frozen hash browns which makes this dish very easy to make.

Snow Cone Syrup

In honor of our present from Grandma today, here is a recipe that I found for making your own snow cone syrup. I must say that I haven't tried it yet, but with kool-aid and sugar, how could you go wrong? :)

1 packet Kool-Aid
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

Mix all together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and cool, then pour it into whatever bottle you want to use. The flavors that the person who posted the recipe liked best were tropical, berry blue, and grape. Also, it was mentioned that you can use the same recipe with only 1 cup sugar and it is still great, but less sugar. Can't wait to try it out!