I saw a beautiful bunch of beets today at the store. The beets had nice leaves so I figured the beets might have been picked not too long back. Beets with live leaves usually taste much better and usually have a better texture so I brought them home.

Usually I only eat the beet greens in salads because they are bitter but today I cooked them up with the stems while I cooked the beets.

I cooked the beets with vintagers, sugar and a couple clementines to infuse another flavor into the beets.

The beets were very large and took 90 minutes covered in a 350 degree F oven. When the beets are cool enough to handle the skins just slip off.

While the beets were cooking I sautéed up celery, beet stems, onion, garlic and threw in the beet greens last.

Then the plate gets dressed up with toppings.

Ingredients for about 6 Servings

3 medium/large beets – with stems and fresh leaves for the rest of the recipe – washed well

1 cup red wine vinegar

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup sugar

2 clementines – each cut in half

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 celery stalks – peeled and sliced

beet stems – from your beets – chopped

1/2 sweet onion – chopped

2 garlic cloves – ground up or mashed

1 Tablespoon kosher salt or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

beet leaves – pulled off the stems in bit size pieces

2 small clementines

3 scallions greens sliced thin

3oz blue cheese – crumbled

6 dates – seeded – sliced thin

6 Tablespoons honey

3 oz almonds – toasted

6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

fresh ground sea salt

Aleppo pepper

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F

Get a large pan. Cut your beets in halves and place in pan.

2 clementines cut in half and add to pan along with-

red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, sugar

Cover the pan and cook until for tender. (one hour – 90 minutes depending on size of beets and oven.

In your fry pan on medium high heat add 2 Tablespoons olive oil, celery, beet stems, sweet onion, garlic, 1 Tablespoon salt, black pepper and cover loosely and cook till sweated (till all is soft). Now add beet leaves and cover. (this will cook fast) and lastly stir in the two clementines segments.

For serving slice the beets and serve about one half a beet per person.

Top the beets with a scoop of contents fro the fry pan.

Top each serving with scallions, blue cheese,  dates, honey, extra virgin olive oil, toasted almonds, fresh ground sea salt and Aleppo pepper.

Enjoy!

Forking Yummy!

 

 

 

 

Water Ice, Italian Ice and Granita are basically the same thing. They all are sugar, water and fruit or juice. In the US Water Ice and Italian Ice are a popular regional food that is common in Philadelphia and in the Delaware Valley. This food has been brought over by Italian Immigrants  so it is known as Italian Ice. When your making a non-traditional flavor the icy confection should be called Water Ice.

Granita usually but not always has more of a scrapped ice texture that differs around different areas of Italy. Granita in Italy is served usually like a slush like drink and in certain parts of Italy (according to Wikipedia) is a slushy beverage that’s a part of breakfast sometimes with a Brioche.

In Philadelphia and other parts of the Delaware Valley the Italian Ice or Water Ice is often a street food sold as a cooling refreshing snack or dessert.

This recipe for Lime Water Ice is ONE PUNCH ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! It’s easy to prepare and delicious. It so light and fluffy. I DO WARN YOU YOU that this is tangy, tart, sweet and flavorful and might not be for kids. If you are used to your Icy treats very sweet this will not be sweet enough for you and you might prefer to add more sugar to this recipe. Try it this way first because the point is that the ice is suppose to be refreshing and not too sweet. Add more sugar if you need too. You will forking love this and will make this over and over again.

Ingredients for 6 servings

1 cup lime juice – fresh squeezed from Persian Limes and all the zest from all your limes. be careful and only get the green zest and not the white part because the white part is bitter. If you put the white part in I do warn you that will taste bitter.

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup water

Directions

In a small sauce pan on medium heat bring the sugar and water to a boil and let boil till sugar is dissolved. About 1-2 minutes.

Pour into a container that can go into the freezer.

Add the fresh squeezed lime juice and zest.

Leave on the counter till it cools down a bit.

Put in freezer and check it in around 6-7 hours and fluff it up a little. Put back in freezer and fluff it up in another 2 hours.

After about 9 hours fluff it up again.

At this point I left it in the freezer over night and the next day scooped it out.

Your Welcome!…This one is A Crowd Pleaser!

 

These Fresh Basil Turkey Meatballs are Forking Delicious and Very Juicy! No-one will even think they are reduced in fat. Instead of breadcrumbs I used a combination of rice and oats. I also don’t use cheese or milk or oil. I have a couple of tricks to make the meatballs moist. One trick is to use finely chopped raw onion. In most recipes they sauté the onions in oil and that gives you tasty onions. I use raw onions to flavor the meat and the onions also put moisture and flavor into the meat. My other trick is adding a small amount of stock to the mixture that is also flavorful. Lastly the fresh basil adds a lot of fresh flavor and also adds moisture. These meatballs are’t mushy either. When my husband tasted them get smiled and said UUUMMMMMMMMM! How did you make them! Then he gobbled up the sample I photoed.

Ingredients for 6 servings

1 lb ground turkey

1 cup cooked rice

2 XL eggs – beaten

1/4 cup vegetable stock

1/4 cup whole grain oats (not instant)

1 garlic clove – grated

1/4 cup sweet onion – chopped fine

1/4 cup basil leaves ( Cram the leaves in the cup ) – chopped well

1 Tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

pinch ground fennel

non-stick spray

Directions

Turn your oven to 350 degrees F.

Get a large bowl and mix everything together.

Get a baking sheet(s) and spray it with non-stick spray.

The mixture is soft so you need a small scoop to scoop out the meatballs.

Scoop out meatballs till you are done.

I got 31 meatballs.

Put in oven till they are done. In my oven they took 12 minutes.

These meatballs are flavorful and juicy. Forking Delicious with the fresh basil! You only need to serve them with grated cheese or a very thin light sauce.

Crowd Pleaser!

This is how you get shattering crisp chicken skin. You spread out your chicken skin on a double layer paper towels underneath the chicken skin and above the chicken skin press out all the dampness with your hands. Then the chicken skins go on parchment paper and get covered with parchment paper. You can season lightly if your careful because the skins will shrink in half so you only need half the seasoning as you think. Get a piece of parchment paper to cover the skins and press with your hands so the skin is almost sealed in with the parchment paper. They go into a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. The skin with be very hot with lots of loose oil that was released. You need to get the chicken skins out of the oil and drain on a paper towel lined pan.

It’s trendy to add a piece of chicken skin to sandwiches or you can dress the skin with tasty sauces.

Forking Good!

 

Aren’t these FORKING cute!

I was spiralizing some potatoes with my Paderno Spiralizer on the ribbon blade and what’s left behind looks like a mushroom.

So I saved my potato mushrooms and sprayed a sheet pan with non-stick canola oil and placed my potato mushrooms on the pan and into a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for thirty minutes.

 

Added Fresh ground sea salt and black pepper.

Would these Faux Mushrooms be great next to a steak or in a pasta dish with mushrooms?

I think they look nice coming out of the mashed potatoes too!

Ingredients for up to 8 servings

3 lbs russet potato cores (leftover from something else you spiralized)

non-stick canola spray (or any spray you like)

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions

Set your oven to 350 degrees F

Spray your baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Gather up your mushroom potatoes and place them on the sheet tray.

When the mushrooms are slightly brown remove them from the oven. (about 30 minutes)

Forking Cute!

If you read my recipes you know that I never use full fat mayonnaise because it is very high with fat and calories and I feel with enough flavor in your food you can usually use light or fat free mayonnaise. The exception for me is egg salad or deviled eggs. The light or fat free just isn’t good on egg salads so you have to make the fresh mayo/dressing for this egg salad. This egg salad comes out forking delicious. The dressing that you make will have all the seasoning in it to make it perfect. This should have been four servings but husband kept snacking on it so I only got two lunches (mine and his) and my husband got three snacks. He also asked me if I wrote down how I made it. I am guessing so I make it the same way again for him.

Ingredients for four servings (unless someone can’t stop themselves)

1 XL egg yolk – for dressing

2 Tablespoons dijon mustard – for dressing

pinch salt – kosher or sea salt – for dressing

1/2 cup canola oil (1/4c & 1/4c) – for dressing

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar (1 T & 1 T) – for dressing

dash Worcestershire sauce – for dressing

1/4 teaspoon cayenne – for dressing

pinch Hungarian Paprika – for dressing

pinch white pepper – for dressing

8 XL eggs

1 Tablespoon of kosher salt – for boiling the eggs

1/8 cup sweet onion – chopped fine

1/8 cup celery – chopped fine and the leaves plus a few extra leaves

fresh ground sea salt

fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Using a blender of some kind add the egg yolk and dijon mustard and blend till emulsified.

Add pinch of salt and slowly add 1/4 cup of oil and blend till emulsified.

Add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and blend till emulsified.

Add remaining oil and blend till emulsified.

Add Worcestershire, cayenne, paprika, white pepper and blend till emulsified.

Cover and put in your refrigerator to chill.

Put your eggs into your sauce pot and cover the eggs very well with water and add the salt. Bring to a boil and then SHUT THE HEAT OFF and leave the pot stay on 5 minutes. Exactly after the five minutes throw out the hot water and replace with cold running water and add some ice to chill the eggs. (The eggs will be cooked medium with a slightly soft center) Chill the eggs really well so the shells will be easier to remove. Get a large mixing bowl. When the eggs are cool then peel them and cut them in quarters and add to bowl. Add the onions, celery, some of the celery leaves rough chopped and reserve a few leaves for garnishing. Add fresh ground sea salt and black pepper.

Now fold in your dressing as needed. You might not use all the dressing so keep a little on the side that can be used later or for a sandwich. It’s better to leave the salad on the dry side because your leftover will get slightly moister from a small amount of water that comes out of the vegetables.

Add reserved celery leaves as the garnish.

Serve on cucumber slices, crackers or your favorite bread.

Forking Great Egg Salad!

 

 

 

These Butternut Squash Pancakes come out light and fluffy and are easy to prepare. I served them with hot toasted pecans and home made cinnamon ricotta cheese filling and a little syrup. When I first made them my husband squealed why didn’t you just make plain pancakes? Then he ate them and said they were very good. Don’t know if they will please everyone out there but they do taste good.

Ingredients that make 15 small pancakes or three servings

2 oz unsalted butter – room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup butternut squash – cooked and mashed

1 XL egg beaten

1 cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

nutmeg – fresh around a half dozen scrapes against the grater

1/4 cup buttermilk

pinch salt – kosher or sea salt

non-stick spray – neutral flavor like canola or vegetable

Directions

in a large bowl mix together the sugar and butter till it looks creamy.

Add squash and continue mixing and then add egg and mix well again.

Add all dry ingredients and then mix in the buttermilk. The mixture will be thick.

Get out your fry pan and put on on medium heat and spray it with the non-stick spray. Make sure it’s hot before you start making pancakes.

I used a heaping teaspoon of batter for each pancake in the fry pan. Then cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Cook until you see small bubbles on the top of your pancakes……….

and then flip them uncovered for a short time or until you see a little browning underneath them.

Repeat till you are done.

The Butternut Squash Wheat Pancakes are very light and Fluffy and seasoned nicely and might please people who think they only like plain pancakes.

I had a bunch of Butternut Squash and it was a nice flavorful sweet one so I thought it would be great baked into a dessert. Hard Squash is a food that is difficult to cut threw. You need strength and a good heavy sharp knife.  Many people don’t have a good enough knife and many people also don’t have the strength to prepare hard squash. There was some sort of article published that hard squash is the one food that sends the most people to the emergency room with kitchen cut injuries. When I cook a hard squash I usually cook it the safest way. I just remove any stickers and wash the squash well. I give it a couple of fork pierces and set the squash in a pan with a little water and then cover it with foil and cook it in a 350 degree F oven until the squash is for tender. Depending on the size of the squash that will take between 45 minutes to one hour and one half. When the squash is cool enough to handle split the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Then scoop out the flesh. The Butternut Squash Cinnamon Rolls are delicious! The butternut Squash doesn’t add much flavor but makes the dough seem much richer than it is. Don’t get the wrong idea this still isn’t dieter food but if I didn’t add the squash I would have used more butter, sugar and eggs in this recipe. The Cinnamon Rolls are sweet but not too sweet because my husband isn”t someone who really likes sweets and he even he thinks these are just delicious. I think they are the just right sweetness for Cinnamon Rolls and the spice gives them the right kick and makes them sassy. These Cinnamon rolls are hard to stop eating. If you like Cinnamon Rolls you will like these.

Ingredients for 24 servings recipe makes 12 large rolls but I feel 1/2 a roll is a serving.

4 cups bread flour – dough ingredient (plus extra to rest the dough ball in)

1 Tablespoon salt – kosher or sea salt – dough ingredient

1 3/4 cup cooked butternut squash – heated up – dough ingredient

1 packet yeast – dough ingredient

1/4 cup sugar – dough ingredient

1 Tablespoon cinnamon – dough ingredient

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg – fresh – dough ingredient

2 oz unsalted butter – melted – dough ingredient

1 XL egg – beaten – dough ingredient

4 oz unsalted butter – for the filling

1/2 cup sugar – for the filling

1/2 cup dark brown sugar – for the filling

3 Tablespoons cinnamon – I used Vietnamese, this is for the filling

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg – fresh – for the filling

1/4 teaspoon salt – kosher or sea salt – for the filling

non-stick neutral – canola or vegetable – for the pan

2 oz unsalted butter – room temperature – for the frosting

1/2 teaspoon vanilla – for the frosting

pinch nutmeg – fresh – for the frosting

pinch sea salt

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

Put all your dry dough ingredients in to your mixing bowl from your stand mixer. Stir in squash, melted butter and then mix till just mixed in. Now slowly add your beaten egg and mix on medium/high for about five minutes or until the dough cleans it’s self off the bowl and is like elastic. Make the dough into a ball shape and put in a large floured bowl. Cover the dough with a little flour and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place till doubled in size.

Make the filling – combine ingredients in a small bowl and set to the side.

Punch the dough down and knead it a bit and then roll the dough out thinly. You might want to use a little of the flour from the bowl for dusting your rolling surfaces.

Spread out your filling on the dough.

Roll up the dough.

Move the dough to a surface that you can cut on and cut the roll in half and then each half into thirds and then cut each third in half. You will end up with twelve rolls.

Spray your pan (s) with nonstick spray. Place your four biggest rolls in the corners of the pan if you are using a square pan and the smallest pieces in the center.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place till the dough doubles.

At this time you can put your pan in a preheated 350 degree F oven. The rolls will be done in 20-25 minutes. Mine looked perfect at 23 minutes.

While your Cinnamon Rolls are baking prepare the frosting. Just mix all the frosting ingredients together and put in a disposable pastry bag. Cut the tip off and squirt on however you like.

Have a piece. They are moist sweet and full of cinnamon and are really delicious. I think everyone will love them.

 

I thought I’d do something different to make spaghetti squash tasty.  The patties are made of seasonings, dill, egg, feta cheese and flour.  I pan fried the patties with non-stick spray so they wouldn’t be too heavy or absorb grease. This recipe makes about 20 patties.

Ingredients for about six servings

2 lb spaghetti squash

1 cup scallions – chopped

2 garlic cloves – minced well or mashed

1/4 cup parsley – fresh chopped

5 oz feta cheese – preferably a creamy less tangy type – broken up in small pieces

1 XL egg – beaten

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon dill – I used dried

1 teaspoon salt – kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

non-stick spray – neutral variety like canola or vegetable

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Put your washed whole squash in a pan with about 1/2 cup of water and cover with foil. Cook till slightly soft when your finger can dent the squash and a fork can just pierce it. The time will differ depending on the size of your squash. For me the squash was perfect in one hour.  When the squash is done let it rest about an hour so the squash is cool enough so you can handle it. When cool enough to handle cut in half long ways and pull out the stringy seeds. Then scoop out the spaghetti with a fork.

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

Put a fry pan on medium heat with non-stick spray.

Do a tester patty with a slightly heaping tablespoon portion cooking it for about two minutes covered lightly with foil on one side and up to two minutes on the other side uncovered. To make sure you got the timing right and more importantly to make sure you don’t have to make any last minute adjustments for flavor or to make sure your mixture holds together well.

If the tester comes out the way you like it continue with making a few patties at a time not crowding the pan. About two minutes on medium heat loosely covered and another up to two minutes uncovered on the other side.

Let the patties drain on paper towels.

If desired serve with non-fat Greek Yogurt.

These are tasty and that’s The Forking Truth!

 

 

These Forking Delicious Baked Potato Fries come out a little crisp on the outside and fluffy and flavorful on the inside. Part of the secret in all the flavor is infusing the boiling potatoes with onion, garlic and a jalapeño.

Ingredients for about 8 servings

2 lbs Idaho Potatoes (about 5 medium sized potatoes)

5 red jalapeno peppers (one gets cut in half and boiled with potatoes the other 4 peppers get stem & seeds removed and chop them fine) (you can use green peppers I just thought red looked more appetizing)

1/2 onion peeled

1 garlic clove

1 Tablespoon salt (kosher or sea salt)

water to cover potatoes well

5 oz extra sharp aged cheddar cheese -shredded

2 oz unsalted butter

i XL egg – beaten

salt – fresh ground to taste

pepper – fresh ground to taste

Directions

Peel your potatoes, cut them in halves and add to your sauce pot that is already halfway filled with cold water. Make sure your potatoes are well covered with water. Add your onion, garlic and 1 Tablespoon salt to your sauce pot. Place pot on medium high heat. Boil for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain the potatoes and throw out the onion, garlic and pepper that was used to flavor the potatoes.

Put the potatoes back into your pot you just used and mash them with the butter. Now add the cheese and continue mashing. Add the jalapeño mix and and taste to decide on salt and pepper. (at this point the potatoes will taste spicier and less cheesy than after baked) Lastly add the beaten egg.

Get a disposable pastry bag and your sheet pan(s) lined with parchment paper.

Cut the end off your pastry bag and slide in your #6 star tip.

Fill the bag half way with potato mixture and twist the end to hold in the potato mixture.

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Squeeze out potato mixture in about thumb sizes with a shaky hand so you get the ruffled edges on your potato fries.

When you fill your pan place it in the oven for 20-23 minutes till the ruffled ends are brownish. Sprinkle with fresh ground salt and pepper if desired.

These are delicious as is.

I caught my husband eating the potato mixture in-between batches and came out with 42 fries. Not sure how many more this might have made. He said it was really good that way too and had to eat it. He also ate the plate of them I photoed and then came back to eat more because I didn’t give him enough.

Yup, these are another crowd pleaser. Mine didn’t come out too spicy and were just nicely flavored. I don’t think they need a dip but if I did serve a dip with them it would be a thin guacamole kind of cream.

Did it again these are FORKING GOOD!