Chipotle Dressing & Creamy Cucumber Vinaigrette

Here are two salad dressings that we really enjoy. Both are loosely based on other recipes. The first one is from a vegan cookbook and the second is based on a cooking class that Ch. attended at Snowbird. My favorite is the chipotle. Spice it to your liking. Make sure you have red bell peppers and avocado on your salad with the chipotle dressing. They're a perfect match. Both keep for over a week in the fridge. Buy the cheap clear mustard/ketchup plastic bottles from Walmart to keep your dressing in. For chipotles, I blend up the whole can, lay it out in a line on plastic wrap, and freeze. I then just cut off whatever I need.

Creamy Chipotle Dressing

1/3 c. cashews(buy in bulk, unsalted at Good Earth)
1/3 c. unsweetened coconut (buy in bulk at Good Earth)
½ c. water
1 T. honey
1 T. EVOO
¼ pkg. silken tofu (around ¼ pound)
2 t. drained capers
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. apple cider vinegar
½ chipotle pepper in adobo (1 t. blended chipotle/adobo)
1 T. red onion or 1 shallot (small)
½ t. sea salt
½ t. chili powder
¼ t. paprika
1 small garlic clove

1. Blend cashews, coconut, and water until very smooth.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend.




Creamy Cucumber Vinaigrette

1 cucumber
1/4 cup light mayo
14 c. plain non-fat yogurt
1 small shallot (about 1 T.) (or red onion)
1 ½ -2 T. white wine vinegar
1 T. oil
Salt and pepper
1/3 c. feta cheese

1. Peel and seed cucumber with a spoon.
2. In blender put cuke, vinegar, yogurt, shallot, and oil. Process
3. Once emulsified add mayo. Salt and pepper to taste.

Zucchini-Orange Bread

\The zucchini has arrived in our garden! Zucchini casserole, zucchini pancakes, zucchini chocolate cake, zucchini cake with caramel topping, etc. But the following recipe is one that I've now made twice, and we all really liked it. It's a very dense bread and the first batch didn't make a very tall loaf. Reviewers on the CL site said the same. So I doubled the recipe along with all my other changes. As always, if you'd like the original , go to Cookinglight.com. As an FYI, if you're interested into baking with more whole grains, you have to check out the KING ARTHUR WHOLE GRAIN BAKING cookbook. It is an amazing resource! One tip I picked up was to stir up my wheat flour before scooping in order to incorporate some air into it. Then scoop lightly into your measuring cup. After you do that a few times, you realize how packed down your flour can be.

ZUCCHINI-ORANGE BREAD
(adapted from Cooking Light)

Makes 2 8" x4" loaves and 1 mini-loaf


Ingredients
5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (I just grind my own)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup egg substitute (or 3 eggs)
1 egg
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 c. plain, nonfat yogurt (I put in 1/3 c. oil and fill to 3/4 c. with yogurt)
2 tablespoons grated orange rind (get a Microplane!)
2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
4 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted in the oven (I like them quite dark)
Cooking spray

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare bread, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 3 ingredients (through baking soda) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Combine granulated sugar and ingredients through juice). Add sugar mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in zucchini and walnuts. Divide batter between 2 (8 x 4–inch) loaf pans and one mini-loaf coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans.
3. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons juice, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle evenly over warm loaves. Cool completely on wire rack.

Pumpkin Oat Bran Muffins

Wow, I've been doing a great job of blogging :-) I told you guys this wasn't really my thing. I've had a bunch of pictures on the camera that I wanted to blog about, and I don't know how to save them to the computer. That's embarrassing to admit. Scot's been too busy with the yard to help me. I've had a few recipes I wanted to post. I'm always trying new things, but I'm self-aware enough to know that most of them would not interest most people who might read my blog. I received a Vita-Mix blender as a gift and have really been enjoying making new recipes with it. I had oat groats in the pantry, so I used my Vita-Mix to make oat flour in this recipe. Before I've just bought oat bran in the bulk section at Good Earth. I also used up the ends of some boxed cereal (I have no idea what kind it was, but this is a great use for the bottom of the bag of some healthy cereal). I just blended the cereal up in my spice grinder (That was a present from Scot for my birthday. If you know Scot and birthdays - it was a great event!) BTW just freeze any leftover pumpkin. It works great to pull out of the freezer for another batch.




Pumpkin-Oat Bran Muffins Recipe
Adapted from Recipezaar

1 1/2 cups unprocessed oat bran
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup skim milk or buttermilk
2 egg whites or 1 whole egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

EXTRAS:

chocolate chips or
zest of one orange, 1 t.vanilla, and dried craisins

I split the batter in half and did half with chocolate and half with the craisin/orange combo

1. Combine first six ingredients in a large bowl; stir well. 2. Make a well in center of mixture. 3. Combine pumpkin and next three ingredients; stir well. 4. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. 5. Spoon into muffin pans filled with muffin liners, filling 3/4 full. 6. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. 7. Remove from pans immediately; serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTE ON MUFFIN LINERS -----If you make any quantity of muffins at all, you need to go to Orson Gygi and buy their bulk paper muffin liners. I buy 500 at a time. Just make sure you bring your muffin tin to see the exact size you need. They sell various sizes of papers.

NOTE ON ORANGE ZEST-----I like to zest a few oranges at a time and freeze the zest in a baggie. Please get a Microplane zester!!!! You'll never live without one again!

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

I've made this before and liked it. But this time I tripled the recipe, but not the condensed milk and added lime rind. Loved it! I also played around with the milks. If you'd like the original you can go to cookinglight.com in the recipe section.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (adapted from Cooking Light)


3 ½ cups skim milk
1 1/2 cups bottled key lime juice (such as Nellie and Joe's)
2 1/2 cups half and half
a couple of dashes of salt
2 (14 oz) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
6 graham crackers, coarsely broken
1 t. grated lime rind
Key lime wedges (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients; stirring with a whisk. Pour mixture into freezer can of an ice-cream freezer and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container and cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tsp graham crackers. Garnish with lime wedges, if desired. Yield: 15 servings (serving size - 3/4 cup)

Caramel Popcorn

We've for years had our favorite Cooking Light popcorn recipe with Teddy Grahams and pecans, but this year we've found another one that we've liked a lot. I've played with the amounts to where we like it, if we don't put in too much popcorn. I've tried to get that amount that will taste yummy and will satisfy my sweet tooth without being decadent, since decadent means more calories. The only problem with making a popcorn recipe that calls for 27-30 cups popcorn--I never measure it. Sometimes we have a little too much popcorn and not--- quite ---enough caramel. So I'm left wanting with every bite. Try not to do that. It's definitely better to have a little bit less popcorn than too much. This recipe is called Caramel Popcorn, but it's not really a caramel, well maybe it is in the amounts the original recipe called for, but not in mine. I LOVE molasses and the flavor it adds. If you don't care for it, leave it out, but you're missing something great! Because of the salt you get a sweet/salty flavor that reminds Scot of his mom making a salty batch and a sweet batch popcorn to eat together.

Caramel Popcorn Adapted from CL (amount to serve 3 adults, 4 kids)

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup light-colored corn syrup
6 T. butter 2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
27 cups popcorn (popped without salt or fat)
Preparation
Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, and molasses in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes, stirring once. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Place popcorn in a large bowl; pour sugar mixture over popcorn in a steady stream, stirring to coat.

Cajun Shrimp Casserole

Of course, blogging is completely new to me, so I'm not sure exactly what I want this blog to be or how long it will keep my interest. It's to chronicle what we're doing, but since I'm always cooking I can't bear to leave out the food! There are lots of incredible food blogs with gorgeous photos and indexes of recipes. As much as I love to eat, I don't think I'll ever be willing to put that much work into a blog. but I do want to include recipes that we've liked. If nothing else it will help me remember recipes I've tried and liked! I know my tastes are eclectic and veer to the vegetarian side. So, igore my recipes if you hate garlic, spice, or vegetables. Also realize that I CAN NOT follow a recipe. Honestly, I really don't think I've followed a recipe 100% in many years. I don't know what's wrong with me. Even when I say I'm going to follow it, I change something. If you have any insights into what childhood trauma caused this obsession, I'm open to any ideas. In the meantime, here's a recipe that we had for the second time this week (with my changes, of course). I took a plate over to Ch.'s orchestra teacher. He's single, no girlfriend, and had had an operation. Conveniently enough, after offering him dinner I found out he lives 2 minutes away. He said he loved it!

CAJUN SHRIMP CASSEROLE
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds unpeeled, large fresh shrimp

1 large red onion, chopped

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

1 cup chopped yellow bell pepper

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

8 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups frozen sliced okra
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of shrimp soup
1 can healthy request cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup dry white wine (can sub chicken broth)
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 cups cooked long-grain rice
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I always use Pecorino Romano - more flavor)
Garnishes: quartered lemon slices, fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs

Preparation
Peel shrimp; devein, if desired.
Put a little oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and next 3 ingredients; sauté 7 minutes or until tender. Add garlic, and sauté 1 minute. Stir in okra, lemon juice, and salt; sauté 5 minutes. Add shrimp, and cook 3 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Stir in soup and next 4 ingredients until blended. Pour into a lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and cheese is lightly browned. Garnish, if desired.

Note: Unbaked casserole may be made one day in advance. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking as directed. To freeze unbaked casserole, prepare as directed, omitting Parmesan cheese. Cover tightly, and freeze. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before baking. Bake, covered, at 350° for 50 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese, and bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is lightly browned.

Yield---Makes 12 servings
Adapted from:

Elaine Jeansonne, Cottonport, Louisiana ,
Southern Living, OCTOBER 2005