Today I learned that Brits use the term "blitz up" in their recipes like we use "blend." It comes from the "blitzkriegs"--the Germans' bombings of London during WWII that left so much of the city in rubble. That satisfies both the food nerd AND the history nerd in me!
So here's our favorite Blitzed Dessert: the Smoothie. Our typical one always starts out the same. Pile into the blender:
- two heaping T of plain yogurt
- pineapple juice (I always save the juice from the cans of pineapple chunks I put in our girls' lunches)
- a frozen banana or two (buy the cheap, overripe bananas at the grocery store. Peel them and freeze them and voila--smoothie fodder!)
- some frozen strawberries (I haven't bought them in years due to this little trick: When I buy them in season and serve them fresh, I pluck off the green stem, and when I slice the top off the strawberries, I save all the tops and freeze them, using them throughout the winter to flavor smoothies! I've got four containers of strawberry tops in the freezer as I type.)
- anything else you like: applesauce (used this tonight!), peaches, apples, pears, blueberries, etc. Remember that the firmer fruits will sometimes make your smoothie have a slight grittiness to it.
- Our favorite add-in is KALE! Yep, just cut the leaves off the stem and pop a few into your smoothie. It will make it the most brilliant green (unless you've used a LOT of strawberries, in which case it will be more brown and not so pretty), and I've always thought they would make great St. Patrick's Day drinks although I've never actually been organized enough to make it happen.
This recipe (give or take) makes three or four 12 oz. glasses, or you can stretch it into more using smaller glasses.
How nice to drink a glassful of as many as six or seven fruits (and even a vegetable!) as one dessert. Makes a great breakfast drink, too, as the yogurt adds protein. Note--no added sugar!! Pineapple juice (or mandarin oranges & their juice) is very sweet. We actually add no sugar to ours even when we have no pineapple juice on hand. The bananas and strawberries are sweet enough.
So...grab your blender and blitz away!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Goodbye, Summer. Hello, Autumn Soups!
Sometimes, in the name of simplification, you have to stop paying attention. I didn't track our food spending at all this summer. We just kept on shopping at the Farmers' Market, eating fresh food as much as possible, and getting our regular stuff.
I confess I make too many stops at convenience stores. Even if I'm only buying powerbars, pretzels, and Diet Coke, it's still unnecessary spending. Today I bought a Starbucks regular coffee and a bottled mango juice for my girls. Still ran me over $5 and we skipped the sweets.
Fall is officially here. Over the weekend I made the first of my autumn soups, Butternut Squash Bisque. We were in Ocean City (I had a conference Th & F, and we piggybacked a little weekend away onto it!), and I brought the squash with us. It can be a challenge to cook in a rental kitchen--especially when it's a trailer on the bay side with fake wood paneling and a mustard-colored, leaky gas stove. But I persevered. I roasted the squash in the oven because I wasn't up for the workout required for chopping it raw. But roasting takes a LONG time.
Here's my basic recipe without the roasting part:
- Cut the squash into small cubes. Good luck not chopping off a finger--squash hides are tough!
- melt a stick of butter into a pot (indulgence!!) while you chop a large onion and a clove or 2 of garlic
- add the chopped onion and garlic, and cook until soft
- chop any additional root vegetables (I've added potatoes, turnips, and other kinds of squash)
- put all veggies in pot & barely cover with water or broth
- add marjoram, thyme, pepper, and sea salt (I am particularly generous with everything but the pepper. Do lots of tasting.)
- simmer until a fork goes easily through the veggies
- use an immersion blender to smooth the whole thing
- add some cream at the end and stir in.
(If you roast the squash ahead of time, all you have to do is add it at the blending point, although you'll want to simmer it with the herbs for a bit.)
Yum, yum, and triple yum. It's honestly our family's favorite soup, and making it just says "Fall is here!" to me.
I confess I make too many stops at convenience stores. Even if I'm only buying powerbars, pretzels, and Diet Coke, it's still unnecessary spending. Today I bought a Starbucks regular coffee and a bottled mango juice for my girls. Still ran me over $5 and we skipped the sweets.
Fall is officially here. Over the weekend I made the first of my autumn soups, Butternut Squash Bisque. We were in Ocean City (I had a conference Th & F, and we piggybacked a little weekend away onto it!), and I brought the squash with us. It can be a challenge to cook in a rental kitchen--especially when it's a trailer on the bay side with fake wood paneling and a mustard-colored, leaky gas stove. But I persevered. I roasted the squash in the oven because I wasn't up for the workout required for chopping it raw. But roasting takes a LONG time.
Here's my basic recipe without the roasting part:
- Cut the squash into small cubes. Good luck not chopping off a finger--squash hides are tough!
- melt a stick of butter into a pot (indulgence!!) while you chop a large onion and a clove or 2 of garlic
- add the chopped onion and garlic, and cook until soft
- chop any additional root vegetables (I've added potatoes, turnips, and other kinds of squash)
- put all veggies in pot & barely cover with water or broth
- add marjoram, thyme, pepper, and sea salt (I am particularly generous with everything but the pepper. Do lots of tasting.)
- simmer until a fork goes easily through the veggies
- use an immersion blender to smooth the whole thing
- add some cream at the end and stir in.
(If you roast the squash ahead of time, all you have to do is add it at the blending point, although you'll want to simmer it with the herbs for a bit.)
Yum, yum, and triple yum. It's honestly our family's favorite soup, and making it just says "Fall is here!" to me.
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