Pear Cobbler

Now that our kitchen is nearly half painted, I've been able to breathe a little and get down to some cool-weather cooking. As a treat for us, I made an old favorite this week. The pears at the market were rock hard when I brought them home, but a day and a half in a bag with a banana did the trick!

Pear Cobbler
Serves 6
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Filling
6 ripe pears: peeled, cored, and sliced
3 T brown sugar, packed
1 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger

Crust
1/3 C flour
3 T chopped walnuts
1-1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 C milk
vegetable oil

Combine filling ingredients in a bowl, stirring to coat the pears with the seasonings. Transfer to a casserole dish.

In small bowl, combine the first 4 crust ingredients. Stir in milk and enough oil to moisten. Drop by teaspoonfuls on top of pears. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes or until browned.

Each serving: 200 calories

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Crepes Suzette

We had such a lovely meal for our anniversary last weekend, including crepes Suzette, that I wanted to share this SUPER-easy Weight Watchers recipe with you. I love when dessert can be considered good for the body. Don’t you?

The crepes can be made in advance and frozen for future use. To freeze them, stack the cooled crepes, using a layer of wax paper between each to separate. Finish the stack with a piece of wax paper, and you can roll the stack into a tube. Wrap the whole thing in a Ziploc freezer bag. Freeze until needed. When ready to use, thaw at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Crepes Suzette:
Makes 4 servings, 2 crepes each

Crepes:
1 C skim milk
¾ C all purpose flour
2 eggs

Sauce:
2 T unsalted margarine (I use Smart Balance)
1 T granulated sugar
1 C orange juice
¼ C thawed frozen concentrated orange juice
2 T orange liqueur

To prepare the crepes: In blender container, combine milk, flour and eggs. Process until smooth. Let stand about 15 minutes to allow bubbles to subside.

Lightly spray 6 skillet or crepe pan with nonstick spray and heat. Pour ¼ C batter into pan and quickly swirl to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Cook over med-high heat about 30 seconds until the top looks dry. Carefully turn the pancake over and cook a few more seconds. Slide crepe onto a plate and repeat until you’ve made 8 crepes.

To prepare the sauce: In 12” nonstick skillet melt margarine. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in juice, thawed concentrate, and liqueur and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

To finish the dish: Add one crepe to skillet, coating both sides with sauce. Fold crepe in half, then again to create a triangle shape. Slide to the side of the skillet and repeat with remaining crepes. Serve immediately.

Nutritional info:
Per serving (2 crepes)
286 calories
8 grams protein
9 grams fat
40 grams carbohydrate
106 grams calcium
68 mgs sodium
138 mgs cholesterol

Happy Easter and Good Pesach, Everyone!

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Peach Salsa

Since starting to post recipes, I've mostly shared my favorite main dishes. We often have interesting sides with our meals, and this is a favorite. It's super easy and fast, and goes very well with meats. Heck, it's good all by itself!

Peach salsa
prep time: 5 minutes
serves 4

2 (15 oz) cans peaches in juice, drained and chopped
2 green onions with tops, thinly slices
2 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 T lime juice
1/4 tsp Asian Five Spice Powder
2 tsp garlic chile paste
1/8 tsp white pepper

In medium bowl, combine the peaches, onion, cilantro and lime juice. Mix in the spice powder, chile paste, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

** Just a note: 2 full tsp of the garlic chile paste is enough to blow the roof off. While I like a nice fiery dish, this recipe had Marble Man on his knees and crying for his Momma. So, you might want to start with a little less and see how you like it - you can always add more.

Enjoy!

In the summertime this is great with fresh peaches instead of canned.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Apple Crisp

One of the many diets I've been on is the South Beach Diet. It's probably the BEST one I've experienced, being the easiest to maintain. ( Over time, I became lazy and stopped paying attention to what I was cramming into my face.) Today's recipe is one I gleaned from the Prevention.com South Beach message board many years ago. It seems like it has a lot of fat in it, but I make it very often, and STILL lose weight!

Apple Crisp
serves 4
preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 medium-sized tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 C rolled oats
1/4 C oat flour (place 1/4 C rolled oats in a blender to make this)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2.5 T + 3/8 C Splenda, divided
1/2 C Smart Balance buttery spread
1 T cinnamon
2 T water

Spray a casserole dish with Pam. Place apples in a large bowl with nutmeg, cinnamon, water, and 3/8 C Splenda. Toss until apples are well-coated and transfer to casserole dish.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, 2.5 T Splenda, and oat flour. Add Smart Balance and work together with your fingers until combined.

*Note: this will seem like a sticky mess and you'll think something has gone horribly wrong. Don't worry - it will be delicious and crunchy at the end. Place this oat mixture on top of the apples.

Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour - 1 hour 15 minutes. Top should be golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!

And, as Charmaine of High Desert Diva commented, this is wonderful the next day for breakfast. Not as crisp, but still good.

copyright 2009 What's Cooking?

Blueberry Corn Muffins

Blueberry Corn Muffins:

Makes 12
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1-1/3 C all-purpose white flour
2/3 C yellow cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 C blueberries, washed and stemmed
1 egg
2/3 C skim milk
1/2 C honey
3 T vegetable oil
1 tsp sugar

Spray muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir or whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the blueberries and toss to coat with flour mixture.

In smaller bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the milk, honey, and oil, whisking until well combined.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Do NOT over-mix!

Divide the batter equally between the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.

Bake 18-22 minutes, until risen and golden. Turn onto a baking rack to cool.

169 calories
4 grams fat
143 mg sodium
18 mgs cholesterol

Note: If using frozen blueberries, don't thaw them. Just rinse off ice crystals and pat dry. Toss separately with 3 T of the flour and stir in after liquid is added.

**These muffins go stale very quickly, but then taste fabulous cut in half, toasted, and spread with some sweet butter.