Smoothies

Basic Smoothie:
1 6oz carton plain yogurt
1/2 cup orange juice or orange juice blend
2 T honey or sugar
1/4 t vanilla
1 cup small ice cubes or crushed ice

In a blender combine yogurt, orange juice, honey, vanilla, and ice cubes. Cover and blend until nearly smooth.

10 to try-
1. Peanut Butter-Banana (my favorite): Substitute vanilla yogurt for plain, milk for orange juice, and add half of a ripe banana and 2 T creamy peanut butter.
2. Tropical: Substitute pina colada flavored yogurt for plain and add 2 peeled kiwifruits.
3. Peach: Add 1 cup frozen peach slices, omit ice.
4. Mango: Add 1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen mango.
5. Banana-Chocolate: Substitute vanilla yogurt for plain, milk for orange juice, and chocolate-flavored syrup for honey; add half of a ripe banana.
6. Pomegranate: Substitute pomegranate juice for orange juice.
7. orange Dreams: Substitute orange yogurt for plain and add 1/2 cup mandarin orange sections.
8. Mocha: Substitute coffee-flavored yogurt for plain, milk for orange juice, and chocolate-flavored syrup for honey.
9. Banana-Blueberry: Substitute blueberry yogurt for plain; add half a ripe banana and 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.
10. Berry: Add 1/2 cup halved fresh strawberries or raspberries.

Apple Pie

(Martha Stewart's)
3 Tbsp. flour
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp cream or half and half
3 lbs. apples, peeled cored and sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. butter, cut into small pieces
Coarse sanding sugar for sprinkling

Roll out dough and line a 9" pie pan with it.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Whisk together cream and egg yolk for egg wash.
Toss together the apples, flour, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until combined. Pour mixture into the chilled pie crust. Dot with butter.
Cover with the rolled pie dough top.  Cut slits or insert a pie bird.  You can also make a lattice top or whatever you want.  Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar.  Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Place pie on a lined rimmed baking sheet and bake on lowest rack for about 25 minutes.  Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake until crust is golden brown and juices bubble, 60-75 minutes more.
Cool pie completely on a cooling rack. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!
Emily

Butternut Squash Soup

    This is a recipe I've been dying to try, but couldn't justify making in the middle of the Florida summer. Now that its September, I figured I could pull out this autumn dish and give it a try (ignoring that its 90+ degrees outside still). Josh isn't much of a fan of squash, but he loved this soup. Its delish!

(Recipe originally taken from allrecipes.com)

2 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 medium butternut squash- peeled, seeded and cubed
32 fl. oz. chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt butter in pot and add vegetables. Cook for 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Add chicken stock and cover with lid. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and let simmer until vegetables are soft. Transfer soup to blender and blend until smooth. Return to pot and add salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy! (super easy huh?)

Parmesan Chicken

1 minced garlic clove
1 stick unsalted melted butter
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 large pinch of Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
2 lbs of skinless, boneless chicken, cut into pieces no bigger than 2x2
Preheat oven to 450 F. In a bowl, combine melted butter and garlic. In another bowl combine everything but the chicken. Dip the chicken pieces in the butter mixture and then into the bread crumb mixture to coat. Place coated chicken pieces into a 9x13 baking dish. Drizzle with any remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
I like to serve this with some homemade Marinara Sauce and Penne. This will serve 4-6 people or 2 people if your husband happens to be 6' 10".
Yum yum!
Emily

Best Chocolate Cake Ever. No lie

This cake is so incredibly moist and delicious but so easy. You're going to be suprised how easy it is. Here's what you need:
1 box Devils Food Cake mix ( Duncan Hines is best)
1 small pkg. instant Chocolate Pudding
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup chocolate chips
plus the ingredients called for on cake mix box
Make cake mix according to directions on box. Add other ingredients. Put in a well greased bundt pan and make at 350 degress for 50-55 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan. You can frost it, sprinkle powdered sugar on top or drizzle melted chocolate over it. Leaving it plain is also just as delicious. Enjoy!
Emily

Terriyaki Chicken Gyros

I've got four words. These. Changed. My. Life.
This is now number one on my list of the best things I could put in my mouth. That's all I'm going to say.
I did my own spin on a recipe I found on Annie's Eats. If you want that recipe you can find it here http://annies-eats.net/2009/06/02/chicken-gyros/. I HIGHLY reccomend mine though; it's easier and you're more likely to have the ingredients on hand.

Terriyaki Marinade:

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar

2 cloves minced garlic

However much boneless, skinless chicken you want; Iused about 1 lb but there's enough marinade for more.

Cut the chicken into strips, place in a plastic bag and marinade for at least 4 hours in the fridge. Grill or bake. I grilled mine on my George Foreman.

Tzatziki Sauce:

This is definately not a traditional Tzatziki sauce, but it's got hints of it here and there.

1/3 cup Mayonnaise

1/4 -1/2 tsp. lemon zest ( more or less according to your taste)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2-3 minced garlic

1/4 tsp. red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. dried oregano or fresh if you have it on hand.

salt and plenty of ground pepper to taste

Mix this up and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so the flavours meld. Yes I spelled flavour with a "u". I am Canadian

To Assemble:

Pita bread- I highly reccomend trying homemade pita bread. I used this recipe and it was fantastic. However, store bought would be fine...but fine is not amazing. I'd go for amazing, which the homemade are. Here's the link http://annies-eats.net/2010/04/20/whole-wheat-pita-bread/

Fresh tomatoes, chopped

chopped cucumber

thinly sliced red onion

chopped romain lettuce

Feta cheese.

Take your warmed pita, spread some tzatziki sauce on it, fill with some slices of chicken, tomatoe, cucumber, onion and romaine. Top with crumbled Feta. So Good! Bon appetit from California!

Emily

Fresh Strawberry Jam

Mmm... homemade strawberry jam; all you need is a hot biscuit. I used to be scared of doing anything that involved canning even though I have helped my mom do alot. I guess it's just doing it on my own that scared me. It shouldn't though because as long as you follow the directions, it's super easy and I think it's fun. An added bonus is you feel so accomplished and good about yourself after you do it and you literally get the fruits of your labours! So for all of you who are scared of mason jars and canners, here's a little step by step tutorial on making homemade strawberry jam.

First you want to make sure you have all your supplies and equipment ready. Wash your jars in warm soapy water or just run them through the dish washer to sanitize them. You need unused lids and new or used rings to screw the lids on.

You also need a canner (seen on the left), a heavy 6 or 8 quart pot (far right) and a little saucepan (behind pot). Fill the canner, a little less than 3/4 full and bring that to a boil while you prepare the fruit. Bring water to a boil in the small saucepan too; it is for softening the rubber ring on the lids. Once it comes to a boil, turn off heat, put lids in it and leave them in the hot water until you're ready to use them.

Once you've got your canner going, wash your strawberries and cut the stems off. Depending on which recipe you use( I use Sure Jell), you will need about 3 lbs of strawberries. Buy them on sale. I bought mine for 89 cents a pound which is a GREAT deal. Also as a side note, DO NOT double your recipe. For some reason it never works out, just do a batch at a time.
Smash the strawberries up. Leave it fairly chunky. The chunks will cook down so don't worry if you have some big ones. My recipe calls for 5 cups of crushed strawberries. You need to be precise when it comes to making jam.

Ok next measure out your sugar (7 cups for Sure Jell recipe), have your pectin ready and about 1/2 tsp of margarine or butter.

Pour the berries into the pot. Add the whole box of pectin and the butter. The butter helps reduce foaming.

Stir that up and bring it to a FULL ROLLING boil on high heat. This means it does not stop boiling when it is stirred. Stir it constantly.

Once you've got it to a full boil, add your sugar all at once and bring it back to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Make sure you use a long handled wooden spoon so you don't get burned. Once it's back to a full boil, boil it for exactly one minute or according to the recipe you're following. Turn off the heat.

Now with a spoon, skim the top of the jam to take of any foam.

Put it on a cracker and eat it. Yum! ok, back to work...

Using a funnel, ladle the jam into your prepared jars and fill them until they're about 1/8th of an inch away from the top. Be careful not to burn yourself. Wipe the rim of each jar with a damp rag or paper towel. You want to make sure you have no jam on the rims so you get a proper seal. Next place your lids on the jars and screw the rings on tightly.
Lower the jars into the boiling water in the canner. This will probably cool the water off a little. Put the lid back on and once you hear the water start to boil again, start 5 minutes on the clock( depending on your altitude the time will vary. Your recipe should let you know how long to process the jars according to your alttitude).
Meanwhile...
Along with my 89 cent strawberries, I also picked up some 33 cent mangoes. I cut them up with a little banana and now I have a bunch of little smoothie packs chillin (haha get it?) in my freezer. Back to jam...

Once the cans are done processing, remove from your canner and place to cool at room temperature for 24 hours. You'll hear pop pop pop! That's good, that's what you want to hear because it means that your cans are sealing. You will need to check that each does have a good seal after 24 hours by pressing the tops of each lid. If it pops back at you, it didn't seal and you'll have to refrigerate that jar (up to 3 weeks).
Isn't jam so pretty?! I hope this was helpful and that you're no longer scared of making jam. It's easy and cost efficient if you get your fruit on sale. Enjoy!

Emily