Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Skinny Crab Cakes

I'm from Maryland and I'm always trying to find a good crab cake recipe that is delicious! This is not only delicious, but it is healthy! Skinny Crab Cakes that are baked, not fried! My kids even ate them.. with some convincing.

Skinny Crab Cakes

- 8-12 oz. crab meat
- 3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 3 x green onions, chopped
- 2 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt
- 2 eggs, beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 lime, juiced
- 1-3 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)

Sauce

- 3 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt
- generous squeeze of Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
- 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar

1. Grease a baking sheet and set aside. Mix your bread crumbs, yogurt, onions, eggs, salt and pepper, lime juice and red pepper in a bowl.
2. Break up your crab meat and mix in gently.
3. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, form your cakes and place on your greased baking sheet.
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees, bake for 10 minutes, flip and bake for another 10 minutes.
5. Sauce: mix all ingredients and leave chilled in the refrigerator.
6. Serve crab cakes with sauce on a bed of lettuce or vegetables.

 Crab Cake Mixture

 Crab Cakes before being baked

Skinny Crab Cake Salad with sauce

Enjoy!
Brittney

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Blueberry Lemonade Pops

It's summer and it's hot outside! A friend of mine told me she bought some silicone popsicle molds for her kids to make popsicles... so I had to jump on that bandwagon! I bought a Zoku Space Pops mold and it makes 6 pops. The recipe I am using I found in an Eating Well magazine for the Blueberry Lemonade Pops. I think they need at least 10 hours to freeze completely, after about 6 hours, they were mostly frozen but melted quickly as my kids ate them - very messy!

Blueberry Lemonade Pops

- 1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh of frozen (thawed), I used fresh
- 3 tbsp. honey
- 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
- 1 cup lemonade

1. Combine blueberries, honey, lemon zest and vinegar in a microwave safe bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in the top. Microwave on high for 3 2 minutes. Stir the mixture, microwave for another minute.
2. Uncover and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
3. Using a strainer, strain all the juice into a separate bowl while pressing the blueberries to get the juice.
4. Add lemonade.
5. Stir and pour mixture into your popsicle molds and allow to freeze for 8-10 hours.

 Zoku Space Pops

 Microwaved blueberries, lemon zest, honey and apple cider vinegar

 Strained juice in a bowl with a spout before adding lemonade

 Lemonade added to blueberry mixture

Delicious!

Enjoy!
Brittney

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Banana Cream Pie

Summer desserts should be fresh and creamy to the taste! This homemade banana cream pie delivers. It was simple to make and might be considered semi-homemade because I used Cool Whip Topping instead of whipping real cream to make the whipped cream. That means its healthier, right? I made this pie to take over to my parents house for a visit and it was a hit! This would be great to make for a party or even just a family get together to enjoy outside with some white wine.


Vanilla Wafer Crust
- 60 mini vanilla wafers or 30 regular sized wafers, crushed
- 1/2 stick of melted butter

Vanilla Pudding

- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup flour
- 2 eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla

Other Ingredients

- 3-4 bananas, sliced
- 8 oz. Cool Whip
- Vanilla Wafers

1. For the crust, mix your butter and crushed wafers together and form a crust in your greased pie pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
3. To make your pudding, place eggs, yolks, sugar, flour and milk in a saucepan over medium heat.
4. Whisk pudding together constantly until it thickens - about 11 minutes.
5. Once pudding is thickened and slightly bubbling, remove from heat and whisk in your vanilla.
6. Place pudding in a bowl with cling wrap touching the top of the pudding to avoid getting a film on top.
7. Put pudding in the fridge until it has completely cooled, about 1 hour.
8. To assemble the banana cream pie, put a layer of sliced bananas on top of your wafer crust, then place 1/3 of your pudding on top. Layer about 30 mini wafers on top of the pudding, then place another layer of bananas on top of the pudding. Complete the pie with the remaining 1/3 pudding and top with Cool Whip and additional wafers as desired.
9. Place in your refrigerator for 3-4 hours and serve chilled.

Vanilla Wafer Crust

 Whisking pudding mixture


 Banana slices, 1/3 pudding and wafers on top

 1/3 pudding with more banana slices

Banana Cream Pie

Enjoy!
Brittney

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Heirloom Tomato Pie

Summer tomatoes from Trader Joe's are so fresh and delicious! I decided to make a Tomato Pie with ours and used a simple pie crust recipe for the crust. I hope you are having a wonderful summer and are staying cool!

Simple Pie Crust (halved recipe to make one pie crust, original makes two)

- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 8 tbsp. butter, cut in pieces
- 1/4 cup ice water

1. Mix dry ingredients together and mix in your butter with your hands.
2. Using your Kitchenaid Mixer, add in your water until a dough ball forms.
3. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to harden for at least an hour.
4. Roll out your dough and form to your pie dish. Cut acess off the edges.
5. Bake dough for 13 minutes at 425 degrees.

Heirloom Tomato Pie

- 1 1/2 cups ricotta
- 1 tbsp. chives
- 1 tbsp. basil leaves, chopped
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 1/2 lb. heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- juice of half a lemon

1. In a bowl, mix your ricotta, chives, salt, pepper, and lemon juice together.
2. Place on the bottom of your pie crust.
3. Layer your cheese on top, then your tomatoes.
4. Sprinkle your basil on top.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

 Beautiful Heirloom Tomatoes

 Tomato Pie before baking

Heirloom Tomato Pie

Enjoy!
Brittney

Monday, July 4, 2016

Summer Ricotta Galette

Happy 4th of July! We are kicking off this holiday with a refreshing dessert that has lemon zest in the dough! We are heading to a BBQ and I decided to make this recipe with a combination of blueberries and strawberries inside to get the full 'red, white, & blue' experience this holiday. This dessert smells so good and I just know it will taste amazing too. Enjoy your long weekend!

Ingredients

Dough:
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- zest of half a lemon
- 8 tbsp. butter, cold and cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- 3 tbsp. water

Filling:
- 2 cups of fruit, I used 1 cup of blueberries and 1 cup of strawberries (sliced)
- 4 tbsp. sugar
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
- pinch of salt
- juice of half a lemon

Glaze:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp. water

1. To make the dough, mix your flour, sugar, salt, and lemon zest together.
2. Put your butter pieces in the bowl and mix together with your hands until tiny balls of dough form.
3. In a small bowl, whisk your ricotta and water together. Add it to your flour mixture and mix in your Kitchenaid mixer until a ball of dough forms.
4. Place your dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least at hour to chill.
5. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
6. Roll out your dough on parchment paper.
7. Prepare your fruit, sugar, cornstarch, salt and lemon juice together in a bowl.
8. Put in the center of your dough and fold the edges over, with some of the fruit showing.
9. Brush your glaze on the dough and sprinkle some sugar on top of it.
10. Bake for 30 minutes.

 Fruit filling

 Dough with fruit filling and glaze

Baked ricotta galette

Enjoy!
Brittney

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Happy Camper Baby Shower

This past weekend we celebrated my sweet cousin and her soon to be baby boy! My Aunt Krista hosted a Happy Camper Baby Shower complete with Airstream cookies inspired by a vintage Airstream cookie jar she found - and gave away as a prize! Guests enjoyed camping food such as pigs in blankets, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad, deviled eggs and a trail mix yogurt bar. Desserts included s'mores on a stick and a delicious white cake and lemon buttercream 'naked' cake. I hope you are inspired by this sweet affair when you plan your own Adventure get-together!

 The Invitation #happycampers

Airstream Cookie jar and cookies

Airstream Cookie Jar

Happy Camper!

The Dessert Table

Camp Dunnam

S'mores Pops

Pinecones, tree and lantern centerpiece on the food table

Enjoy!
Brittney