Luscious Lemon Pudding

I am addicted to this new show called "Recipe to Riches". A couple of recipes have intrigued me and just so I don't lose them, here is one of them. It's called "Luscious Lemon Pudding".

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 unit eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups 2% milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Butter 8-inch (2 L) square glass baking dish. In bowl, sift together sugar and flour; set aside.
2. Place egg whites in bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 4 to 5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Transfer whites to another bowl.
3. Add egg yolks to same bowl and return to stand mixer. Using whisk attachment beat on medium-high speed until yolks are thick and lightened in colour. Reduce speed to medium and add butter, lemon rind and juice; beat for 1 more minute. With machine running on medium speed, alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making 5 additions of flour and 4 of milk.
4. Remove bowl from mixer. Fold in egg whites. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Place dish in large shallow roasting pan. Add hot water to half way up side of baking dish.
5. Bake in centre of oven for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Top two-thirds will be cake consistency and bottom third will be pudding consistency.

I can't wait to try baking this! My best friend Debbie is visiting tomorrow so I might just give it a shot.

Weight Watchers zero points vegetable soup

It being Fall, I figured it's time to start breaking out the soup recipes. My friend Sandy told me about this one from Weight Watchers: http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2006/01/day-285-weight-watchers-zero-points.html

She added celery and a can of diced tomatoes and said it's totally filling. I've been dying to try it, so here goes!

RECIPE

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 1 1/4 hour
Makes 9 cups

6 cups broth (today I used Light Vegetable Stock)

Cooking spray
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 teaspoons garlic (from a jar or substitute four cloves minced garlic)
1/2 cabbage, chopped (or use a bag of slaw, the biggest chunks you can find vs the fine, don't skip the cabbage for it somehow makes the soup)
1/2 pound frozen green beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large zucchini, diced

Bring the broth to a boil in the microwave. (This is a time-saving tip that can be skipped if there's no hurry.)

Spray a Dutch oven with cooking spray and heat on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini are tender. Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
Per Cup: 61 Cal (3% from Fat, 24% from Protein, 73% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 13 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb10; NetCarb10; 52 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 701 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers ... hmmm ... 1 point

NUTRITION NOTES This soup is low-cal, low-carb, high-fiber and no-fat.

Pineapple Carrot cupcakes

Attempt #2. I'm still on the hunt for that delicious recipe that my high school home ec. teacher gave out. Here's a recipe I tried tonight for pineapple carrot cupcakes. Figure cupcakes are so much cuter to eat!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/carrot-cupcakes-with-white-chocolate-cream-cheese-icing/detail.aspx

pre-icing. Serious quality control issues!

For some reason, some cupcakes totally rose and some didn't. I skipped the walnuts and white chocolate icing since my sister is allergic to nuts and I didn't have any white chocolate on hand.

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/8 cups white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

Beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups. 

Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before topping with the icing. 

I used this recipe for the cream cheese icing. Holy moly, did it ever use a lot of cream cheese. (Handy tip: go to the States to buy the cream cheese. Sooooo much cheaper! It was $6.45 for a 3 lb or 48oz brick. Yeah. I know. You can pick your jaw up off the floor now.)

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use. 

final product

I think the cupcakes are ok. Nica keeps sneaking into the kitchen to eat them so he must think they're pretty good. Wait... he just told me he gives them a 9 out of 10. Personally, I think I'm closer to 7.5 or 8. We'll see what the family says at Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Japanese Cucumber salad

The other day I decided to have a Japanese themed night. In addition to sushi, I thought it'd be nice to have a nice light salad so I attempted to make sunomono. Now, my friend Vania had given me a recipe (handed to her from her nutritionist friend Tina) and of course I filed it away, didn't document it and lo and behold, couldn't find it when I needed it. I googled "sunomono recipe" and ended up using this: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-sunomono but it wasn't what I was looking for.

Anyway, I still have to try Tina's recipe, but here it is (now documented electronically so I can find it when I need it!)

Japanese Cucumber Salad:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
- dissolve sugar over heat
- pour over cucumbers and chill
Don't forget to boil some vermicelli and wakame and if you're looking for a final kick, a slice of lemon and some prawns.

Easy Pasta recipe

When I finally found a seller for a pasta roller on craigslist, he parted with his pasta recipe as well. So far, it's been the best one I've tried! It's super simple too. Here it is:
- 2 cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- max 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon of oil.

Mix it all up (i.e. put flour and salt on table, make a well, put in egg and oil, mix with flour and then add water as needed. , put it through the pasta roller and voila!

Recently my brother was attempting to make his own pasta and I was trying to find this recipe (it was only written on a post it and buried in the depths of all our moving boxes). Now that I've found it, it's going electronic so I don't lose it again!

Costco "secrets"

Even though we are only recently a family of three, I am a Costco junkie. I love going up and down their aisles, looking for things to fill my home with.

Here are some Costco "secrets" that I've discovered...
1. Those items ending in '.97' are clearance items. Get 'em while they last!

2. For Canadians, it's better to buy a Costco cash card in Canada and use that in the States versus using your Amex credit card. The exchange rate is slightly better but I still find it more beneficial to take cash down. That way, you determine the exchange rate  you pay. (i.e. buy American $ when the rate is good!)

3. I recently had to renew my membership. By coincidence, I happened to be shopping at the Bellingham Costco when it came up for renewal. The cost? $100. With no tax. So, factoring in the US/Canadian exchange rate AND the fact there's no HST charged, I saved!

4. The States doesn't always have better deals. I was recently comparing electronics (SD cards, external hard drives) and Canada was better.

5. In the States, they don't give you coupons at the door. You have to go to the membership desk to ask for the coupon booklet. Be careful too. If a coupon book has just ended, they only give the new ones out the following Thursday. So there's a few days there where no coupons are in play.

6. Eggs, cheese, milk, chicken and pork are so much cheaper in the States. For example: Organic brown eggs in Canada? Over 8 bucks. Down in the states? $4.50.

7. For Vancouverites that cross-border shop: the best place to buy gas is the Bellingham Meridian Costco. Line-ups are horrendous because of all the Canadians that buy, but it's worth it. For example: Current price of 87 octane in Greater Vancouver: $1.38/litre. Down at the Costco in Bellingham: $3.79/gallon.

8. Costco memberships are good all over the world!!! Handy if you happen to be traveling.

9. Finally, it pays to check out this thread before you go shopping in the Costco West stores in Canada: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/costco-west-deal-pointer-thread-1056914/#post13431334
A fellow shopper posts the latest coupon deals and even goes into the store to post photos and prices of those not advertised in their weekly flyer. I'm pretty sure he's influenced Costco sales in the West. He's even been accused of being a Costco employee (which he is not).

Plum and Ginger sorbet

On a recent trip to Napa Valley, my friend Mela and I visited the Culinary Institute of the Arts. It was my Holy Grail. She even surprised me with a cooking class! We got to cook in the CIA kitchen under the instruction of an author of one of their cookbooks.
The chef I cooked with was Cate Conniff, the author of Seasons in the Wine country. We were divided into separate groups and given a few recipes to execute. Afterwards we all sat down together to eat the fruits of our labor.

One of the dishes I really enjoyed was the plum and ginger sorbet. So upon returning home, I found an ice cream maker in my parents magical basement (if you wish for something, I swear it just turns up) and this week with the weird hot spell, I put the recipe into action.

Here's what you need:
- 2 lbs of ripe sweet plums. Washed, pitted and quartered
- 2 cups cold water
- 1 cup sugar
- one inch of ginger, peeled
- 1 tablespoon vodka (lemon flavoured, plain or limoncello)
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice


Combine the plums, water, sugar and ginger. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Take out the ginger and then blend it until it's smooth. Strain the mixture through a sieve and then stir in vodka, salt and lemon juice. Chill (at least 2 hours). Then pour it into the ice cream maker.

Yeee-um. It was so easy that now I'm dreaming about making all sorts of ice creams and sorbets with fresh fruit. Blackberries, peaches, strawberries... the possibilities are endless!