Easter
Happy Easter, everybody! I am actually doing a holiday post in a timely manner, who woulda thunk it? Last Easter I focused on eggs, this time I wanted to go on the theme of ham and peas.
Ham and peas, it is! Unlike at Christmas, when I accidentally made a pork roast instead of a ham, I got it right this time and did a Dr Pepper glazed ham. Yes, I said a Dr Pepper glazed ham - awesome.
Take a fully cooked smoked ham (I went with an 8 lb, spiral sliced, partial bone) and place it cut side down on the rack of a roasting pan (or on a cookie rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet). Pour 2 cups of Dr Pepper (not diet) and 2 cups of water into the bottom of the pan. Cover with foil and cook for 15 minutes per pound at 325 degrees - 2 hours, in my case.
About half an hour before the cooking time is up, start to make your glaze. Boil some pitted prunes in Dr Pepper until they are plump. Set the prunes aside and whisk in mustard, brown sugar, and cider vinegar. Remove the ham from the oven and raise the oven temp to 425 degrees. Remove the foil, and drizzle the glaze over the ham, then return it to the oven for about half an hour to cook the glaze.
It will be so gorgeous when it comes out! Let it rest, loosely covered on a cutting board (this photo is before I turned it on its side for slicing). Meanwhile, pour all the pan drippings into the saucepan you cooked the glaze in. Bring to a boil, skimming off the fat, and add in the prunes and a cornstarch slurry to thicken. Serve the prune sauce with the ham.
Curry Banana Ice Cream
Curry. Banana. Ice Cream. When I found this recipe, I flipped. It sounded AMAZING. One of the best truffles I've ever had was a curry banana flavor.
And there aren't just plain old bananas in here, either. No - they are roasted bananas. And not only that, but roasted with brown sugar and butter. Is anyone else drooling right now?
These smell incredible when they come out of the oven, covered in sticky brown sugar goodness. You scrape all that sweet stuff into a blender with whole milk and your favorite sweet curry powder, then into the ice cream maker - simple as that. I am seriously in love with this ice cream.
I am also in love with this milkshake that I made with it, chocolate syrup, and Bailey's. Boozy milkshake for the win!
Curry Banana Ice Cream
adapted from Scoop Adventures
3 medium-sized ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp sweet curry powder (I used this one)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare bananas and toss them with the brown sugar and butter in a small (2-quart) baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through.
Scrape contents of the dish (bananas and the thick sugar syrup) into a blender or food processor. Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, salt, and curry powder, and puree until smooth.
Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (4 hours). Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer to a plastic container, press wax paper onto surface, and freeze until firm (about 4 hours).
Light Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaf
We are finally getting into some Spring weather here but I am way behind on my posts, so I'm sorry if the cold weather stuff drags on a bit! I actually made this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Loaf all the way back in October - yikes! Put it uses canned pumpkin, so you can make it whenever that is available. I found this recipe through Pinterest which advertized only 500 calories for a WHOLE LOAF!(!!!) Oh-em-gee! Can it be true? Delicious and healthy? The unicorn of pumpkin loafs?!
Okay, I wouldn't really call it healthy. It's low calorie and low fat due to the use of low-fat cream cheese, egg whites vs whole eggs, and applesauce vs oil. And it uses half fake sugar and half real sugar, but I'd still call that a sugary snack.
As for deliciousness? I'd call it okay. You can definitely taste the fake sugar and it isn't as dense and luxurious as the real thing, but it's a pretty good substitute. So all-in-all I'm going to call this decent but not amazeballs.
More Figs!
I've stated before how obsessed I am with figs. I snatch them up whenever I see them at the store. Jasper does not share my love of these little jewels, which means more for me! Bwahahahaha! ...Okay I'm fine now, sorry about that.
Mostly I like to eat my figs with cheese - this makes me ridiculously happy. Coincidentally (or not), I also like to eat my cheese with fig jam. Anyway, one of the most popular pairings for figs is blue cheese, so I wanted to play around with that a bit.
I broiled the figs with blue cheese so that they were hot and melty, but I didn't stop there...
I topped them off with crispy prosciutto and honey.
It's okay if you drool a little, I understand.
Going in a sweeter direction - I also made some balsamic glazed figs with mascarpone.
Adapted from this recipe - I tossed the figs with a glaze made from balsamic vinegar, sugar, orange juice, and orange zest and broiled them. Then I served them on top of mascarpone whipped with cream and sugar.
The cream melting into the hot figs with the sweet and tangy glaze... yeah - this was pretty much heaven.
Skinny Pina Colada Cupcakes
In my ever-continuing quest to find healthier foods, I stumbled across this recipe. Cupcakes, that are diet-friendly, in my favorite tropical flavor combo, made with only 5 ingredients! Yeah - these are awesome.
For the cake part, you only need 2 ingredients (only 2!) - cake mix and canned crushed pineapple. That's it! The pineapple takes the place of the eggs and oil making these super low-fat.
Blackberry Frozen Yogurt
I always crave ice cream during the summer - who doesn't? But now that I am trying to be more healthy, I am looking for alternatives. I found this recipe for Creamy Blackberry Frozen Yogurt that only used 3 ingredients and had to try it! Super creamy, sweet, and delicious - this was more than I was hoping for. Plus this recipe will probably work with any fresh fruit.
Does anyone have any recommendations on what I can replace the sweetened condensed milk with to make it even more healthy? Honey, maybe?
From Kitchen Corners:
3 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups Greek yogurt
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
In a blender, puree the blackberries with the sweetened condensed milk. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove most of the seeds (optional).
In a medium bowl mix the puree with the Greek yogurt. Pour the mixture in to your ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions.
Strawberry Rhubarb Lattice Pie
Rhubarb season is one of my favorite times of year and what better way to celebrate it than with the ultimate classic: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Buttery, flaky crust is the perfect background for the tart early Summer fruit flavors, and strawberries cut the tartness of the rhubarb without overwhelming it.
A mixture of strawberries, rhubarb, cornstarch, orange juice, and orange zest is loaded into the bottom crust and dotted with butter.
Strawberry Banana Cream Pie
This eye-catching pie is made with strawberries, bananas, and fresh pastry cream for a fresh summer treat.
Slices of banana are layered into a cinnamon laced graham cracker crust along with a custard made from eggs, milk, sugar, and butter.
No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream
Fresh ripe strawberries, sugar, cream, and a little lemon juice - that is all you need to make this creamy summer treat. And in this recipe there is no cooking involved, so the flavor of the fresh strawberries comes through really well.
No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream
adapted from Gourmet
1 lb strawberries, trimmed, halved if large
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups heavy cream
Coarsely mash strawberries with sugar, lemon juice, and salt using a potato masher in a large bowl. Let stand, stirring and mashing occasionally, 10 minutes.
Transfer half of strawberry mixture to a blender and purée with cream until smooth. Return strawberry cream to bowl with remaining strawberries and chill, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours.
Freeze mixture in ice cream maker. Transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.
Ice cream keeps 1 week.
French Toast Dessert Panini
I am a little bit behind on posting, so to tide you over until I can get myself organized I will show you this super simple and and super tasty snack/dessert. All you have to do is spread one slice of bread with peanut butter and another with Nutella, then top with some banana and strawberry slices.
Press the slices together and dip each side of the sandwich into a combination of beaten egg, milk or cream, and a little cinnamon. Cook in a hot pan with melted butter and you are done! Great for a late night snack, or breakfast with the kiddos - enjoy.