Pineapple Fried Rice made with Cauliflower as the Rice

I like this alternative to fried rice because it is much healthier but evokes the same flavor profile without the guilt. I used to make this recipe with rice but honestly I like the cauliflower just as well since I can eat such a massive amount without feeling bad about it!

1lb. Fresh Shrimp cleaned, tails off ( I used lg. but med. is fine)

6 slices of fresh pineapple slices, chopped

1 C frozen peas

7 cloves of garlic chopped fine

3inches of ginger chopped fine

1bunch of green onion chopped and separated, green from white

1 red bell pepper chopped

Toasted sesame oil

Canola oil

Soy sauce

1 cauliflower head pulsed in a food processor until it looks like rice.

In a skillet over high heat put in about a tablespoon of sesame oil and a tablespoon of canola oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Salt and pepper the shrimp and throw into the hot oil with 1clove of garlic, turn the shrimp, don't burn the garlic or it will be bitter, and let cook till done. This will take just a few minutes, the shrimp should be pink. Remove from pan.

 Add more of each oil and let get hot. Add in the vegetables, fruit and two cloves of garlic leaving out the green part of the green onions. Saute a few minutes adding in a couple tablespoons of soy sauce then remove.

Add the oils in again and let get hot then add the cauliflower and saute a bit while adding more oil as needed. Take the soy sauce bottle and circle the pan three times pouring in the soy sauce, stir around and continue to saute. Add in the rest of the garlic and go around the pan a few more times with the soy sauce to taste. Add back in the fruit and vegetables and add the green part of the green onions. Stir and taste...adjust seasoning.

Blueberry Boy Bait

I had some leftover blueberries that I wanted to do something with so I decided to make my version of blueberry boy bait. Actually, I really wanted to make a peach cobbler but alas I ate all the peaches, they were just so ripe and deliciously good on their own I couldn't resist. Blueberries, however, never get eaten up and I don't like to eat them on their own. It's probably because of where I live and that we just never get good ones, I guess. Some day I want to go visit blueberry country and eat some right off the bush!

 I saw this recipe several years ago and tried it a couple of times but my family just thought it didn't have enough flavor. My daughter, Alexandra thought adding lemon zest would improve the flavor but I already have the lemon blueberry bundt cake recipe that I love and I just wanted something different. In this recipe, I have made some changes that make it more flavorful and yummy!

2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/2 t cardamom
1/2 t fresh nutmeg grated
2 sticks unsalted butter softened
3/4 C light brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
3 eggs
1 C buttermilk
1t vanilla
1T southern comfort
1/2 C blueberries
Topping
1/2 C blueberries dusted with 1T flour
1/4 C sugar
1 t cinnamon
Grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan.
Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom and nutmeg. Beat together the butter, and sugars on medium high for several minutes. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each. Add in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk in thirds. Mix in the vanilla and southern comfort. Toss the blueberries in the flour and fold into the batter. Pour and spread in the pan then sprinkle the other 1/2 C blueberries evenly on top. Combine sugar and cinnamon and evenly dust the top.
Bake at 350 for about 45 min. or tester comes out clean.

Grilled Chicken and Coconut Lime Rice

Its summer and hot so I am feeling like I want a tropical meal for tonight. The first time I made this meal was for an evening we were spending in our treehouse with friends. I spent most of my childhood in trees and wanted my girls to have the same experience so I asked my husband, at the time, to build a treehouse in a giant ash tree in our backyard for them to play in. Being six foot eight, he constructed what to him was a modest treehouse above the roof line of our house which the girls would access by climbing the tree. What he built in actuality was big enough to later house a fancy grill, swinging dining table hung by chains from the tree limbs and assorted chairs. When the girls were no longer interested in climbing trees he built stairs so that all of us could more easily access it and that's when all the furniture made it's way up into the treehouse.

The best picture I have of the treehouse was taken after the once in a lifetime snowfall on none other than Christmas Eve.

Grilled Chicken
My grilled chicken is the easiest recipe ever. You just marinate boneless skinless chicken breasts in wishbone original Italian salad dressing for 1-2 hours. You salt and pepper the chicken just before putting them on the grill and cook them turning once until done. If you don't over cook them they are so juicy with a marvelous grilled flavor. I won't presume to tell you how long to cook them since every grill is different and the size of chicken varies dramatically.
You can use this recipe with kabobs and any kind of vegetable.
I have received so many compliments on my grilled chicken and when I tell them what I use nobody can believe it! Here I have added grilled peppers, onion and pineapple.

Coconut Lime Rice
3C jasmine rice
1 can coconut milk ( I use Goya)
Chicken stock
2 limes zest and juice
Salt and pepper
Cilantro chopped

In a large pot put 2 T oil and the rice on high heat and toast the rice slightly. Add in the coconut milk and enough stock to equal liquid needed to cook the rice as per the instructions on the rice package, the seasoning, and the lime. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer and cook until done as per instructions on the rice bag, about 20 min. Fluff the rice and add the cilantro.

For a low carb option take a head of cauliflower and pulse in a food processor until it looks like rice. Put the cauliflower, 1-2 cans coconut milk and a little stock to cover the cauliflower with liquid. It depends on the size of your cauliflower but you want way more coconut milk than chicken stock. Add in the lime and seasonings and cook uncovered over medium heat until almost all the liquid has cooked out. Add in the cilantro. The texture of the cauliflower will be similar to rice but it will be more watery.
The picture is with the cauliflower not the rice.

Fancy Tuna Salad

I call this tuna fancy because I get it all dressed up before I eat it. Although I do love just tuna and mayo as do two of my girls, we decided when they were older a more grown up version suited us better.

It doesn't matter what kind of tuna I am making this is who always joins me on the counter whenever the sound of a tuna can being opened is heard and I don't even use an electric can opener...

This is the happy satisfied face that makes me smile...

1 can tuna drained

1 green onion chopped

2 marinated artichokes chopped (pull two out of the jar)

1 T capers

1 T finely chopped cilantro

1 squeeze of a half of lemon

2 heaping T mayonnaise

Just dump everything into a bowl and combine. For a larger group you can triple the recipe.

I always serve this on top of an avocado half and with a quartered Campari tomato which has been salted and peppered. My girls love it with ordinary saltines but you can use artisan ones as well.

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

This is one of my favorite pound cakes especially for spring and summer. You need to make this cake as soon as the blueberries are in season and you can find the little ones. I found they work the best and are the most flavorful in this one.
This cake almost was named the death cake by Scarlet's friend Andrew because last summer it seemed too many of my friend's parents were passing away. I kept making them to drop by their houses because it seemed the perfect one to take, you can eat it for breakfast or in the afternoon as a pick me up or as a dessert after dinner and don't forget the all important midnight snack, it's the perfect make you feel better cake. One afternoon I was baking it again and Andrew asked if someone else had passed away since I was making the death cake and yes someone had but I refuse to call it this because it is such a happy cake for me.

I made this cake yesterday afternoon and it has not been 24 hours yet and already the cake is completely gone!

2 3/4 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 C unsalted butter softened
1 3/4 C sugar or 1 C truvia baking blend
4 eggs
2 T lemon juice
1 T lemon zest
2 t vanilla
1 C buttermilk
1 1/2  C blueberries tossed with 1 t flour
Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan. I use a large one but if you are using a stevia blend such as Truvia instead of sugar it only rises about half way up and you could easily use a smaller bundt pan.
Whisk together flour, powder, soda and salt. Beat the butter and add sugar gradually and beat for 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add lemon juice, zest and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture in three additions alternately with the buttermilk then beat on med high to fully incorporate. Fold in the blueberries. Pour in pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. You want the wooden toothpick to come out clean or if their are a few crumbles attached.

Citrus Flavored Old Fashioned Pound Cake

My girls love what I call my summer cheese cake which has lemon and orange zest in it. My two younger girls love pound cake and I thought what fun it would be to make a citrus flavored pound cake for summer. This cake is moist and fresh tasting with bright favors that stays yummy for almost a week. It is so delicious by itself it doesn't even need a glaze on top but if you want to fancy it up you could serve it with a reduced fruit in season/ sauce ( raspberry,strawberry,blueberry,etc.) and ice cream or whipped cream.

Alexandra's (middle daughter) father in law always looks forward to her visits because he just loves all the baked goodies she brings him...so when Father's Day came around she decided to bake this cake and mail it to him since she was unable to visit. I may happy to report the cake made it in great shape and so tasty that she received multiple phone calls from both her mother in law and father in law saying this is their favorite treat to date!

2 C butter, unsalted and softened
2 3/4  C sugar
6 large eggs
3 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/8 t salt
1/2 C milk
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
1 t vanilla
2T southern comfort liquor

Beat butter on medium speed for a couple of minutes then gradually add sugar and beat about 5-7 minutes. Add eggs one at a time beating just until the yellow disappears. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl then add to the wet mixture alternating with the milk beginning and ending with the flour mixture on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in vanilla, the zest and the southern comfort.
Pour into a large greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour - 1 hour 15-20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick come out almost clean (a few crumbles can be attached just not wet). Cool in pan on wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

For a plain cake omit the zest and southern comfort and add 1/2 t freshly ground nutmeg into the flour mixture.

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread as Soft as White

I have been experimenting with whole wheat bread recipes and this is the one! It is as soft as white making it perfect for sandwiches. This recipe is adapted from one I found on My Healthy Green Family.
Most of my recipes are old and have been handed down through my family but this blog is also an online recipe book for my daughters (one lives in NYC, one in Gibraltar and the last one is still here in town but travels all over) where they can access my recipes wherever and whenever they want.
I cannot resist cutting warm bread straight out of the oven, the end piece with some butter is my favorite! I wonder, however, if cutting the bread so soon releases some of the heat and keeps the bread from continuing to cook from residual heat and thus making the bread softer as a result...just a thought. So you have my blessing when it comes to cutting your loaf straight from the oven!

3 C whole wheat flour
1 heaping teaspoon rapid rise yeast
1/8 C honey plus 1/4 T
1 1/2 t butter, melted and cooled to room temp.
1/2 t kosher salt

Soak 1 1/2 C flour in  1 1/4 C water then cover with dish towel for 30 min.

At the same time, mix 1 heaping teaspoon of rapid rise yeast, 1/4 T honey and an 1/8 C warm water (just barely warm...too warm will kill the yeast...room temperature will work too). Do not over mix. Place dish towel on top for 30 min.

Melt butter and let cool.  Combine the soaked flour with the yeast mixture and then add the butter 1/8 C honey and the salt.
I used a dough hook but you don't have to and incorporate 1 1/2  C flour. Knead with dough hook or by hand for 5 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes knead 5 more minutes. If you were using the dough hook turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a few minutes and then let rest 5 minutes. Knead gently for 10 minutes until the dough is soft and pliable.
Place the dough in a greased bowl with the greased side up and cover with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place  until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Remove dough and punch down. Knead a little and roll out dough with a rolling pin into a 7x14 rectangle. Roll up jelly roll fashion tightly with no air pockets and pinch the edge together. Tuck under the ends and place in a greased loaf pan shaping to fit. Cover with damp dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled and rounded nicely over the top for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 before getting the dough and bake for 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow and is just golden brown on top. Remove from pans immediately, run a knife along the edges to loosen from the sides and turn out. Brush the top with butter and cool on wire rack.