Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! I'm so excited. This is my first time posting as a regular contributor (as opposed to my sub status in Pomodori e Vino. So, if you read our intro, you know the deal. We've chosen 52 ingredients and based upon the ingredient combinations in the Flavor Bible, we'll each week be creating (and making) seven different recipes for that ingredient. As you may know, this week's ingredient is Plums.

Now here's my first confession (and I fear there will probably be many more over the next 51 weeks), I didn't make this dish this week. I made it a few weeks ago when I still had summer plums in my fridge and I had some arugula about to go. Cindy told me the first week would be plums, and before I had a chance to buy the book (I own it now), what ingredients would go with plums and immediately a salad popped into my head.

Ingredients for the salad

From there, it all just fell together.

Plum, Prosciutto and Arugula Salad with Hazelnut Honey Dressing

Ingredients

• 2 plum, sliced thin (and seriously, make this in season when plums are good - mine was slightly firm which I think made for easier slicing)
• 4 ounces prosciutto (sliced thin)
• a whole lot of baby arugula (I bought one of those big plastic containers with it pre-washed)
• 1 oz chopped hazel nuts
• 4t hazelnut oil
• 4t lemon juice
• 4 t honey
• dash of kosher salt

Directions

Plum, Prosciutto and Arugula Salad

That's it.

I know, kind of easy and a bit of a cop out ... maybe. But really, when you have good, fresh ingredients, you really don't (shouldn't) work to hard with them.

Oh, and one more confession (see, told you there would be more), I'm member of Weight Watchers, trying to lose a bunch of weight. One of the things I like about this challenge is I create the recipe, so I can curtail it to my dietary needs and this recipe came in at 6 Points Plus per serving. Which reminds me, this is a lightly dressed salad, you may want to consider making more dressing but keep the proportions of the dressing ingredients the same.

I love apples. I love apple desserts more! Anyone who knows me knows that if there's an apple dessert on the menu, I'm ordering it, over chocolate, over lemon, over anything. So my first thought was to make an apple bread pudding, using challah (a sweet, egg bread) that I was making for Rosh Hashanah. I should have stuck with my first thought.

Instead, I decided to really push my limits and make an apple souffle. After all, I've never seen one, ever, in a restaurant or anywhere (maybe there's a reason). I like souffles. They're actually pretty easy to do on Weight Watchers (not a lot of fat in a souffle) and I've successfully made both Gran Marnier Souffles and chocolate souffles (sorry no picture/entry for those). How hard/bad could it be?

First I checked our bible, Flavors to see what goes with apples.

• Cinnamon (of course), comes in with caps, bold, and an asterisk - check
• Creme Anglaise, a standard good go along - check
• Rum, bold and caps - check
• honey, bold, lower case (hmm, maybe I'll use that instead of sugar as it will be in honor of Rosh Hashanah when we eat apples and honey for a sweet new year) - check.

Ingredients

Okay - I think I've hit all the requirements. On to the recipes.

Here I must confess (yes, remember I warned you about my confessions, I did look at some other souffle recipes (especially pumpkin) to get ideas on how to incorporate apple into the souffle, also ideas for ratios and oven temperature as well as ideas for my creme anglaise - especially this (after all this wasn't the main recipe, really just an additional ingredient).

I based my Creme upon this one from Cooking Light. My changes, I used skim milk instead of 1% and I added some rum liquor. With a serving size of 2T, it's 1 point per serving. And though I used fat free milk instead of 1% I thought it thick and flavorful enough.

Creme Anglaise

• 1 3/4 cup fat free milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 4 egg yolks (actually works well, because between this and the souffle below, you use 6 eggs total)
• 2t good rum or rum liquor

Put the milk, scrapings from the split vanilla bean and the bean into a sauce pan. Heat over medium flame for about five or six minutes - don't boil just cook it until those tiny bubbles start to form along the edges. Remove the bean.

In another bowl blend egg yolks and sugar. Gradually add the milk to the bowl, whisking the entire time (for those of you familiar with the Sunday Slow Scoopers will recognize this as the same process used to make custard based ice creams. Return the mixture to the pan and rewarm it, stirring constantly, until it coats the back of a wooden spoon (i.e., if you pull the spoon out of the custard, run a finger across its back and the trail your finger made stays, it's done). Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl set in an ice bath (probably should do this ahead of time). Stir in the rum. Let it cool and you can store it for three days in the fridge.

Now for the souffle, this is what I came up with.

Apple Pie Souffle

• 6 apples, I used a combination because it's what I had on hand - 3 granny smith, 2 gala, and a honeycrisp
• 1t ground cinnamon
• 3T honey
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2T water
• 2 egg yolks
• 3T Good dark rum or rum liquor
• 1/2C evaporated skim milk
• 6 egg whites
• 1/4 t cream of tartar
• 1T sugar
• 2t sugar

I took the first five ingredients (coring the apples, slicing them but not peeling) and put them into a pot until the apples cooked down and were soft. I then put them through a food mill (finest holes), to remove the skin and puree. Here was a bit of my first disappointment. I had hoped the honey flavor would be a bit stronger (ironically, at first, I thought it was too strong and would overpower but in the end I couldn't really taste it).

Apples, Before and After

While the puree cooled, I prepared my souffle dishes. I had six, 7 ounce ramekins that I coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with the 2t of sugar. I actually had left over souffle mix at the end so probably could have done 8 ramekins (but this is the problem with making your own recipe, you will have to do it over and over again to get the portions/ingredients/cooking time correct and unfortunately (or fortunately) that's just not happening here.

Once the apple puree cooled, I added the egg yolks, dark rum (I confess, I actually used a rum liquor here), and the evaporated milk to the puree.

Next, I beat my egg whites until foamy, then I added the cream of tartar and the 1T of sugar and beat again until stiff peaks formed (that means when you take your beater out, it will leave a little curly q).

Now I folded in my egg whites (starting with a third first, then once that was incorporating adding the rest), into the apple puree. You don't want to mix too much as you don't want to deflate the egg whites. Then spoon the mixture into the prepared ramekins.

Souffle batter in ramekins

Now here was the tough part - baking. It was a hot day and I didn't want to turn on my big oven so I did them in my convection (which you have to preset baking times and also has a hot spot in the back left corner). I was also concerned that I had enough whites to lift the heavier puree. Anyway, I started by cooking two at 400 for 12 minutes.

You can see it rose but not as much as I would have liked.

First Attempt

But inside, it wasn't cooked through.

First Attempt - Failed

This went on a few times, next at 400 for 15 minutes, then 375 for 17 minutes, finally 375 for 20 minutes.

Final Attempt - Just About Sucess

You can see it's still a tad moist in the center but okay and notice the browning on the one side of the top (remember that hot spot?). Again, it didn't rise as much as I had hoped. Still, I went with it, poured my Creme Anglaise on top and tasted.

In the end, here's my "issue" with this souffle. The flavors were spot on but it was a consistency feel in my mouth. You see, the pureed apples gave the souffle a bit of that grainy, apple-sauce like consistency which I didn't expect. I'll try again but next time, I may use an apple schnapps as my flavor provider for the souffle (similar to those Grand Marnier souffles) or find a better tool for pureeing my apples, to give them a finer quality.

And for those keeping track, at 7 (or 8) servings we are at 4 Weight Watcher points plus, and an additional ppv for two tablespoons of the Creme Anglaise.

I had two ideas for mushrooms, a sort of mushroom spanikopita and soup. I'm glad I went with the soup!

Next question, a broth, a chowder, something thick? I decided on something thick and smooth (like a bisque) and was trying to figure out if I wanted to use cream, make it healthier and use evaporated skim milk, perhaps something else, when it hit me, why use cream at all? The next thought was to use a potato in the soup to act as a thickener but in the end I decided on cannelini beans. I always have canned ones in the pantry and they don't have a powerful flavor that will overpower the mushrooms (I actually use them in my guacamole too for this reason. Once you blend it, you don't even know they're there), and they'll add protein and fiber to the soup.

Okay - to start, my ingredients, let's just say cooking with mushrooms can be easy ingredient-wise because you probably have many of the listed ingredients already in your pantry. Other than the fresh mushrooms (farmer's market) and shallot (supermarket), I didn't need anything.

To satisfy my Flavors requirements I had:

• SHALLOTS, WINE, KOSHER SALT, OIL
• Chives
• Cognac

Ingredients - (mistake though, grabbed brandy not cognac)

Ingredients

• 1 oz dried porcini
• 1 C boiling water
• 1.25lbs assorted mushrooms (I used cremini and shitake)
• 1 large shallot, chopped
• 1T Canola oil
• 1qt chicken broth (I used fat free)
• 1C canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• thyme (I used dry b/c I didn't feel like picking the leaves, so 1t dry or 1T fresh)
• salt, to taste (maybe 1/4 - 1/2t)
• pepper, to taste (a few grinds on the mill)
• 1/4C red wine
• 2T cognac
• Minced chives, parsley or a little sour cream - see below

Directions

Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in the hot water for about 20 minutes. Drain through a sieve lined with paper towels, reserving the soaking liquid. Chop the porcini mushrooms.

Clean (with a moist paper towel or brush) the mushrooms (don't wash b/c they'll absorb the water). Slice the mushrooms.

Heat the oil in a pot over medium to medium high heat, add the shallots and sliced mushrooms. Saute, cook until shallots are soft and mushrooms have wilted a bit (about 5-7 minutes). Add the thyme and porcini and cook for a couple more minutes. Add the red wine to deglaze the pan.

Add the broth, reserved soaking liquid, cannellini beans, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Pour half the soup into a blender, careful to remove that little insert in the top, leaving a hole. Cover that hole with a towel and puree. Set aside, and repeat with remaining soup. Return soup to the pot and stir in the cognac (warm the soup if necessary).

Serve one cup of soup in a bowl with garnish.

Okay - let's talk about the garnish for a second. Here's a problem with mushrooms (and if any of you watch Top Chef you know that which of I speak), mushrooms, when cooked, without other things well, let's face it they look like shit, or mud or whatever, so you want something there for contrast. The first night I served this, I snipped some chives from the garden to garnish it with and that was nice but I bet flat leaf parsley would work as well.

As we were eating the soup though, Chris (that's my husband, for those who do not know), suggested a bit of sour cream would be a nice addition. So two nights later, when I rewarmed some of the leftover soup, I did add a bit of fat free sour cream and it was good too. Which reminds, not using cream in the soup, I think that this soup will hold up in the freezer too but I need to try that out. It definitely didn't suffer being in the fridge for two days and I think the mushroom flavor was even more pronounced, so definitely something you can make ahead (I think this will be showing up on our Passover or Rosh Hashanah table in the future).

After I took the photo, I played and swirled the cream into the soup making a pretty pattern which was even nicer, should have taken a picture of that too.

And for those keeping track, the one cup serving came in at 3 Weight Watcher Points Plus. I think this with a nice salad, maybe a slice of good bread would make an excellent lunch or dinner.

I love duck, like apples, if there's something on the menu with duck, I'm probably ordering it. I haven't had luck with duck though in home, and I always thought it to be not healthy (all that skin/fat), so I steered away from preparing it myself.

That's going to change. First, I found a local seller of duck, Griggstown Quail Farm (they have a lot of cool poultry plus amazing pies; if you haven't checked them out, you should - and they mail order too). Then, after consulting Weight Watchers, I found out that if you remove the skin, duck is incredibly lean (six ounces of uncooked duck, without skin is four Points Plus, the same as chicken!). Yes, I know, the crispy skin of the duck is delicious and doing it properly is the hallmark of a good chef, but sometimes, you have to prioritize those points.

Okay - so how to prepare the duck? I had two ideas, the tagine (think Moroccan stew), or a barbecued pulled duck pizza (like barbecued pulled pork, only with duck). Again, remembering my desire to cook healthy recipes for this challenge, I opted for the tagine.

Which brought me to my next dilemma, tagines are usually slow cooked, started on the stove top and then placed in the oven for a couple of hours. I didn't think duck breast would hold up to that preparation and I couldn't get a hold of duck legs or thighs (Griggstown told me they do all their bird butchering starting around Thanksgiving, so to come back just after that and they'll have legs and thighs). I did a little research and came up with a complete stove-top methodology.

Now to consult the flavor bible. Below are the corresponding flavor ingredients I chose:

• GARLIC, GINGER, ORANGE ZEST, CHICKEN STOCK
• figs, olive oil
• cinnamon

And now for the recipe...

Duck Breast Tagine

Ingredients

• 2 duck breasts weighing about 8 oz each (when I bought mine they were just about a pound but once I trimmed the skin/fat, they were about 8oz)
• 1T olive oil (divided)
• 3 large onions, sliced (I used Spanish onions I also bought at Griggstown)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1T peeled fresh ginger (I never have luck grating mine, so I minced it)
• 1t ground cinnamon
• 1/4t ground ginger (i.e., dried)
• about 3 cups chicken stock (I used Cento fat free)
• 6 dried figs, stems trimmed, quartered
• 1/4 to 1/2t fresh orange zest

Directions

Trim all the fat from the duck breasts. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Spray a large skillet with olive oil Pam and add 1t olive oil. Heat skillet and when hot (but not smoking), add duck breast. Brown breast (about 3 - 5 minutes depending how hot your skillet is), then turn, and brown other side. Remove duck breast from skillet.¹

Pour remaining two teaspoons olive oil into skillet, and add onions. Cook about 10 minutes until soft and lightly browned. Meanwhile, slice your duck breast. Add ginger and garlic and cook another minute. Add figs, stock², cinnamon, ground ginger and sliced duck breast (and collected juices) bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer away about 35 - 45 minutes until duck is soft and liquid has cooked down.

Add the zest of the orange³ and cook for another couple of minutes, uncovered.

Notes

¹ the duck was rare when we sliced it and tender. As it cooked back in the tagine, it almost toughened up for a while (maybe 20 minutes in), but as it cooked longer it became tender again.
²I intended to use a full quart of stock but as I was pouring it looked like more than I needed so I stopped pouring, 2 1/2 cups of stock might even be enough, but you will have to judge. In the end, I took the lid off my pan so as the broth would evaporate (i.e., cook down more near the finish), to a thicker gravy.
³I find that stews, while blending flavors, can also muddle them a bit. I thought first about adding some fresh cilantro at the end but then decided it didn't necessarily go with the sweeter flavor profile I created, and opted for the orange zest at the end to brighten the dish. Chris though it may have been a tad too much zest (i.e., overpowering) but I enjoyed it.

Oh, and for my Weight Watcher peeps, this makes 4 servings, at 7 points each. We served this with whole wheat cous cous and roasted asparagus. I'll definitely make this again.

I like carrots. I really do. Even as a child I used to eat them all the time ... raw. Sometimes, for the Jewish holidays, we'd have them glazed with sugar or honey. They were always in our matzo ball soup too. At Thanksgiving, Mom made her amazing carrot muffins (I make them now). And just last weekend I made an amazing Carrot Sheet Cake. Yet, when it came time to come up with a recipe that featured carrots, I was at a loss. Completely uninspired.

Palma made muffins, Sandi a carrot cake, Ruth the soup (though I have to admit, in the past, I've never been much a fan of carrot soup), what was left? Palma suggested a carrot salad and I turned that idea over in my mind for a morning, then it hit me, pickles!

On Weight Watchers, sometimes it's hard for me during "cocktail hour" that time of day, before dinner, when we might put out some noshes to nibble with a pre-dinner drink. Years ago I discovered jars of pickled green beans and pickled okra at Whole Foods that I now keep on hand to munch on pre-dinner, so I thought why not pickled carrots? And I love spicy, so it seemed only natural.

Now, I am a canner (though I haven't really canned anything this season) but for the purposes of this challenge, I really didn't want to get so involved (remember, I told you I was uninspired), so instead I opted for a jar in the fridge. I checked my Ball Blue Book, just to get an idea of measurements and stuff and came up with these ingredients, which I actually had on hand.

Ingredients

1C water
1C Cider Vinegar
1.5T kosher salt
.5t - 1t dried crushed red pepper (honestly, I can't remember what I used but they're darn spicy!)
12 strips of peeled, fresh GINGER (I used a carrot peeler to get the strips)
3/4 - 1lb carrots, peeled, quartered, and sized to fit into a 1pt Canning Jar
1 jalapeno pepper

Directions

1. Blanch the carrots for like 15 seconds in boiling water, drain.
2. Place the carrots, ginger and jalapeno into the jar.
3. Bring the water, cider vinegar, crushed red pepper and salt to a boil.
4. Pour hot liquid into the jar, leaving about 1/2" of head space.
5. Put the lid on and store in the refrigerator for a couple of days to meld the flavors.

That's it! Easy peasy and these are delicious! Spicy (but you can adjust that accordingly by the amount of crushed red pepper you use). I even ate a ginger strip and liked it this way. I'm totally making these again and will probably can a bunch too (maybe I'll post and update to this when I do that with the canning instructions).

Spicy Pickled Carrots

And for my Weight Watcher peeps, yeah, I can put this in the recipe builder, and maybe it will tell me 1 point for the jar or something but really, come on, they're pickles! I'm going with zero points plus for this baby!

A few years ago Chris and I visited a winery in Vermont (yes, they make wines there). Much to Chris's chagrin, I purchased a bottle of cranberry wine. I had visions of creating a recipe using the wine and pork. Well, today I finally did it, not to the grand machinations in my head at that moment but still a pretty easy and decent dish.

Ingredient

1 pound pork tenderloin, sliced crosswise into eight pieces
2t olive oil
1 medium apple, peeled and diced (I used a honey crisp)
1/2C fresh cranberries
1 sprig rosemary, leaves removed and chopped
1/2C cranberry wine (don't worry, I'm sure you could use any wine)
1/2C fat free chicken broth
1/2C APPLE CIDER
salt and pepper

Directions

Season the pork tenderloin medallions liberally with salt and pepper. Spray a skillet with non-stick spray and add the olive oil. Warm over medium-high heat. Add medallions and cook, turning once until browned on both sides (about 2 minutes per side). Remove from skillet.

Add apples and cranberries to skillet, cook a couple of minute until apple are lightly browned. Add wine and cook until almost evaporated, scraping the bottom to deglaze. Add roemary, chicken broth and cider. Return medallion and collected juices to pan. Reduce heat and simmer, covered about 10 - 12 minutes until pork is cooked through.

This came together very easily and took less than 20 minutes to cook. We liked the flavor and the only thing I may do the next time I make it (and I will make it again), is to maybe add a little cornstarch at the end to thicken the sauce a bit.

And for my Weight Watcher friends, this serves 4 and comes in at a very reasonable 5 points plus per serving (2 medallions, and a bit of sauce).

Um, well, let's just say if you like Cosmos, you'll love this! 'Nuff said.

Ingredients

• 4C water
• 1.5C SUGAR (okay, it was a bit sweet, I might drop that to 1.25 sugar but my daughter liked it as is and thought it tart still)
• 2C fresh cranberries
• zest of 1 orange
• 1/2t cinnamon (I debated cinnamon or ginger but decided on the cinnamon)
• 2T Grand Marnier

Directions

Bring water, sugar, cranberries, zest and cinnamon to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until all the cranberries pop (you know, they actually remind me of popcorn popping). Pour through a sieve into a 1 quart container. Put in the fridge to chill (I chilled mine overnight).

Pour chilled cranberry concoction into an ice cream maker and process until frozen (mine took 20 - 30 minutes). Put into another 1qt (you might actually get a tad more than a qt), container and stick into the freezer overnight.

Voila! You know, for a fancy Thanksgiving dinner, this would make a pretty decent intermezzo.

Oh, and for my weight watcher peeps, 1/4C is 2 points plus.

Who chose Brussels Sprouts? Really, I mean how many different things can you do with them? Luckily my fellow cooks are rising to the challenge. I on the other hand, returned to one of the prime axioms of cooking, "When in doubt, cook with cheese." Never heard of that? Yeah, I guess I just made that up.

Anyway...

I like quiche (shoot me) and I honestly poked around and didn't see anyone making quiches out of brussels sprouts (yes, I know maybe there is a reason) but I figured what the heck, I'll give it a go.

My primary concern was that the sprouts would be too tough in the quiche, so I cooked them first. I wasn't sure for how long, and honestly I was maybe about 2 minutes too short in my timing (or I could have cut the larger sprouts into eighths instead of the fourths I did) but other than that, I liked it! I went crust-less though (yes, some will argue not a real quiche then but tough) in my quest to keep the points down. Other than that, I think it's all pretty straightforward.

I forgot to take my ingredient shot prior to cooking the onion and sprouts, so they're cooked here

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 8 oz brussels sprouts, quartered (or eighths if they're really large)
• 4 oz Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese made from 2% milk, shredded (feel free to go full fat if you want but remember I'm looking to keep points down)
• 1T freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg whites
• 3/4C fat free evaporated milk
• 1t dijon mustard
• 2 slices center cut bacon
• 1T flour
• salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350F degrees.

Cook the bacon until it's crisp. Crumble it after blotting well with paper towels. Drain the fat from the pan and saute the sprouts and onions in it until lightly browned and wilted. I covered my pan and lowered the heat to medium-low for 6 minutes after a quick saute on medium-high to help soften the sprouts.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg and egg whites in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour the mix into a 9" pie plate coasted with cooking spray. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until puffy and a bit golden brown. Let sit for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.

At 6 slices, this comes in at 4 Weight Watcher Points Plus per serving. Honestly, with a salad or some side veggies on the sie, it probably would have filled me fine but I got so wrapped up making the quiche, I didn't do that, so I was pretty hungry and didn't find it that filling. I think it will make a good breakfast though. And tomorrow, I'll probably try it with a side of veggies.

I had grand visions on this dish. First I was thinking some sort of pear galette, then I thought something savory, maybe with blue cheese... In the end though, I went with something simple (sorry holiday hectics is getting to me), and nothing is simpler than another sorbet!

I knew I wanted something with pear and almond so had Chris pick up some almond paste at the market but never having worked with almond paste, it occurred to me (without opening the container) that it might give the sorbet a ... chalky ... pebbly consistency that I didn't want, so I decided to use Amaretto instead (hey who doesn't like booze in their dessert?).

Next I wondered about what liquid to use. It was a toss up between water or the one cup of apple cider I had left in the refrigerator. I opted for the cider but now I wish I had done the water (or maybe some white grape juice) because Sammi (that's my daughter. Have I mentioned her?) and I both think that the apple flavor may have overpowered the pear flavor a tad.

Last decision, when and how much amaretto to use? I decided to put it in with the pears during cooking, thinking maybe, the alcohol would cook off and leave me with just that almond flavor. Unfortunately, the alcohol did cook off and with it a lot of that lovely almond flavor. So I added another two tablespoons before I put it in the ice cream maker. The recipe below reflects the actual two tablespoons you will need (rather than the four I used).

Oh, and one more note on the sugar, I used half a cup. I think next time I'll use only a third a cup (if I use a juice as the liquid) because it was just a tad too sweet for me.

Other than that, I'll definitely make this again!

Ingredients

• 5 small to medium pears (about 2 lbs), peeled and chopped
• 1/2C SUGAR (I will use less next time)
• 1C apple juice/cider
• 2T amaretto (I'm counting this as almond in the list baby)
• large pinch of ground CINNAMON

Directions

• Put all the ingredients except 2T amaretto into a pot. Bring to a boil and cook until pears are tender.
• Puree the ingredients until smooth in a food processor or blender and chill 8 hours or overnight.
• Mix the 2T amaretto into the puree.
• Put into the ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.
• Freeze.

Ta dah!

Sorry for the image quality. Must remember to not take pictures using my iPhone after beer dinners

For my Weight Watcher peeps, apologies, I forgot to weigh the final product before we ate it. I'm going with 2 points plus per small scoop (i.e., don't pack it in there).

Okay who picked cabbage? This is like Brussels Sprouts to me ... how many ways can you prepare cabbage? At first I thought maybe something exotic like chicken and cabbage dumplings with a hot-sweet sauce but then I realized the holidays (and yes, I can say holidays because we celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas in this household), are a mere two weeks away and I have a ton of stuff to do! So again, I opted for the easy way out and you won't believe how easy this is.

Have you ever heard of health salad? I'm not sure if it's an east coast thing a NY thing (read Jewish) or if health salad has pervaded the entire country but for those not in the know, let me explain. It's a whole bunch of vegetables, mixed together, with a sweet, tangy sauce usually served in lieu of coleslaw (no mayo, it lasts longer at picnics). There are probably as many different recipes for health salad as there are delicatessens yet it's one of those things, that while I enjoy it out, I've never made at home ... until now.

Now I've seen health salad made with big chunks of vegetables and I've seen it finely shredded, personally, I prefer the small cut or shred to the big chunks. Luckily, when I was at the market, I saw pre-shredded red cabbage along with a bag of shredded broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and more cabbage - which made easy work of this salad.

Most health salads I've seen also includes cucumbers but I find that cucumbers tend to go quickly and/or get soggy, so I didn't include them in my version. I also like things a bit spicy, so decided to include a bit of crushed red pepper in my dressing. Lastly, lately, I've had this ... fascination ... with fennel. Never having eaten it raw, I decided to incorporate a bit of that into the salad to see how it goes. Anyway, here's the recipe...

Oops, forgot the crushed red pepper in the previous shot - here it is

Ingredients

1/2 RED ONION sliced (I may add a little more next time, if the onion is mild
1/4C fennel, thinly sliced
1 bag of shredded red cabbage
1 bag of shredded veggies like the rainbow salad I bought (including carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage)
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used yellow but you could use any color)
1/4t salt
1/4t fresh ground black pepper
3.5T cider vinegar
1.5T olive oil
1.5T sugar
large pinch of crushed red pepper (or to your taste)

Directions

Mix all the veggies together in a large bowl. Mix the remaining ingredients together with a whisk until blended, making a dressing. Toss the dressing with the veggies. Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Easy peasy man! Feel free to increase/decrease the dressing as you see fit.

For my Weight Watcher peeps, this came in at 1 points plus for a 4 oz serving. Feel free to count 1/2 a healthy oil when you eat this.

Morning all - can't believe it's Friday again already! I almost forget to write this post the week went so fast ... almost.

Okay - so some of you might be scratching your heads about now at this recipe. Kugel? What's a kugel? It's a casserole that can be almost cake-like in some cases (mine or a traditional carrot), cheesy in others, sweet with noodles and cinnamon or savory with potatoes and onion but it's typically served at Jewish holidays and on the sabbath (aka, Shabbat). As I've mentioned I've had noodle kugel, carrot kugel and potato kugel but I've never seen a parsnip kugel so I thought - why not?

The next question for me was savory or sweet? Do I include onions, shallots, some herbs like thyme and sage or go with the nutmeg, brown sugar, and apples? As I was craving sweet that day (I made this on Wednesday), and I had all the ingredients for sweet in the house (savory may have required a trip to the store), I went with the latter and here's what I got.

Ingredients

• A bunch of parsnips - not sure what size these were and as I forgot to weight them, I'd say about 10 small to medium
• medium apple, peeled and quartered
• 4 oz unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2C brown sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4C canola oil
• 1/2t lemon rind
• 1C flour
• 1t baking soda
• 1t baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1t cinnamon (we love our cinnamon)
• 1/2t NUTMEG

Directions

1. Spray a 7x11 glass pan with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Place the parsnip in a food processor (I peeled mine first as I didn't know if I should or not), chop fine and put in a large bowl.
3. Place apple in food processor and chop fine and add to parsnip. If you don't have a food processor you could grate both or get really handy with a knife.
4. Add to them the egg, brown sugar, lemon rind and oil.
5. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg with a whisk.
6. Add flour mixture to parsnip mixture.
7. Bake for about 40 minutes until cooked through (I tested with a knife) and golden brown. Let it sit for a few minutes and then serve.

I have to admit - I really liked this! So much so, that I kept picking at it as I passed the counter and finally had to toss it because although Becky liked it too, I just couldn't see us finishing it any time soon and it was too tempting.

Because it's cake-like this came in high on the Weight Watcher meter - at 10 servings we got 5PPV.

Phrew! Made it in. I have to confess, I totally forgot about this week's entry until Tuesday, when I wondered, "Hey, why are all these Swet Potato posts appearing in my news stream?" Duh, smack my head time.

Here's the problem, Wednesday we headed out of town for two days, returning last night and I had absolutely no inspiration.

Well, no inspiration until we had pizza at Otto for lunch.

Last night when we got home, I checked "the bible" and this morning, I made Chris run to the supermarket for some ingredients.

Ingredients

1 pre-made thin crust pizza (yes, I copped out - feel free to use your own homemade, but I was rushed for time)
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped (I started with two but only used half the puree)
4 slices center cut bacon, cooked and chopped (I did mine in the microwave)
ORANGE ZEST from one orange
1T BROWN SUGAR
chipotle chili powder
cayenne
kosher salt
shredded Gruyere cheese (had some in the fridge)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425.

Cook the sweet potato in water until tender. Drain. Mix in brown sugar, good dose of salt (to taste), chili powder and cayenne (aka ground red pepper) and orange zest. Spread the sweet potato puree on the crust of the pizza. Top with shredded Gruyere and bacon. Bake on a cookie sheet in oven for 7.5 - 10 minutes. Done.

Sorry Weight Watcher peeps, I didn't measure well, so no points on this one. I'll try to come back and post it another time.

And yep, we liked it and will make it again!

I've been really nervous about this week. Oysters. I only started eating them 11 months ago. Until then I'd been afraid of that slimy thing going down my throat (basically afraid I'd gag it all up). Anyway, once I tried them though, I was hooked. Yet I couldn't imagine eating them any other way than raw with a little mignonette sauce, so this became a real challenge for me. Until I looked at the flavors book that is...

You see, a few complementary ingredients that go with oysters jumped out at me... horseradish, caviar, cucumber and vinegar which made me think ... sushi! Okay - I used wasabi but wasabi is horseradish!

I've never made sushi before so this totally intimidated me. Also, I was concerned about the concept of "chewing" the oysters. I mean, I'm fine when they slide down my throat but I was concerned about the chewiness, so I decided to flash fry them (kind of like a shrimp tempura or spider roll).

The only other concern for me was shucking the oysters. Chris is my shucker and he was out of town. Whole Foods though stepped in and shucked them for me and told me to eat them within 90 minutes - no problem!

I may have gotten a bit heavy handed with the rice but this was my first attempt at a roll and overall I'm really proud of how they came out!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup arborio rice coating (I stole this from Michael Chiarello; it's what we use to coat our fried calamari and you can find the recipe here. We make it in batches and keep it in the freezer.
• 1/4C buttermilk
• 6 oysters (I used Chincoteague because they were small. I originally wanted kumamotos b/c I like them best. The Chicoteague were maybe a little too briny for this)
• small egg caviar
• 1C jasmine rice
• 2T seasoned rice VINEGAR (I didn't have seasoned and used regular but it seemed good)
• 1T wasabi powder (i.e., horseradish)
• 1T water
• 1 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and seeded, then cut in long strips the length of the seaweed roll
• nori sheet (seaweed)
• Canola oil for frying

Directions

Cook the Jasmine Rice (any short grain rice will do though) according to package directions. When done stir in vinegar, cool to room temperature.

Shuck and drain the oysters. Soak in buttermilk to coat and then drain. Sprinkle with arborio rice coating, shake off excess and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Spread out Nori, shiny side down (I couldn't tell which side was shiny) on bamboo mat (I didn't have this so used a piece of parchment paper covered with saran wrap). Spread rice on seaweed, leaving 1 inch border with wet hands. Dab some wasabi on center of rice lengthwise (depending how hot you want it). Spread oysters and cucumber slices down the middle. (Note: this time I dolloped the top of the pieces with caviar. Next time I'll put it in the middle with the oysters).

From the long side closest to you, roll Nori over the filling by lifting mat (or parchment paper). Continue to roll away from you until the Nori is under itself (there are good picture directions of this maneuver on the back of the packages of the Nori). Using gentle pressure, shape roll with your hands. Remove mat (or paper and saran) and cut roll into 6 to 8 slices. Dollop with caviar. Serve with some soy sauce and more wasabi.

Right off the bat, I'm confessing, first I took a short cut this week. A short cut, because I actually created this recipe a few months ago (and posted it somewhere else), when pumpkin beer was "in season." Yes, there is a season for pumpkin beer which is usually brewed in the summer and distributed starting at the end of July/August. So if you want to have some during the actual "pumpkin season" you must buy it then and then save it as I did.

I also used a short cut, in that like those brewers of beer, I used canned not fresh pumpkin. Now let me digress for a moment as I share with you a canned pumpkin story.

Did you know that all the Libby's (maybe others too) canned pumpkin in this country (well, at least as of 20+ years ago), comes from roughly two plants - one in Illinois (Morton to be exact) and the other in California. These plants operate only for 12 weeks a year, during pumpkin harvesting season, and you can see trucks laden with pumpkins rolling down the highways towards them in the morning and leaving empty later in the day. Those pumpkins are brought into the plants in the morning and within a few hours are cooked, canned, sealed and labeled for shipment. I know this because I toured that plant in Morton Illinois many years ago when I worked as a consultant. Anyway, my point is I feel confident using canned (unflavored) pumpkin as an acceptable (and easy) substitute to fresh.

So now on with the recipe (oh and because I did create this recipe a while ago, sorry no ingredient shot - shoot me).

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup SUGAR
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I'm counting this b/c it contains both cinnamon & nutmeg)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 15 oz canned pumpkin
• 12 oz pumpkin beer (really any beer will do)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 Tbsp canola oil

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together flours, sugars, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt with a whisk.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin, beer, egg, vanilla and oil until smooth.

Add dry mix to wet, stirring just until moist (don’t over mix). Scoop batter into muffin tins coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove and cool for as long as you can possibly wait to eat them. This will make 20 muffins.

Now I’m not going to lie, the house had an odd smell while these baked – I’m assuming because of the beer. And there is a slight taste of beer on the palate when you eat them. But they are good and moist and are holding up well in a Tupperware container on my counter. For the beer, I used River Horse Hipp O Lantern, but I’d imagine any pumpkin beer would do and if you don’t use a pumpkin beer, I’d up the pumpkin spice a tad (maybe 1.25 or 1.5 teaspoons total).

Oh, and for my Weight Watcher peeps, these came in at 3 points plus value – not bad at all!

I got caught unawares this week as I thought we were supposed to be doing beef! Must get new glasses.

So beets? Well, I love them pickled and I like them in salads with cheese and I even made a risotto once with beets but they're definitely not something I use often. Then it occurred to me that we often buy these snack chips that have sweet potatoes, tarot root, and something that looks like ... beet chips! So I figured why not?

Let me tell you, these were so easy peasy! I can't believe I never made them before. As a matter of fact, this recipe has so few ingredients that even my friend Stephanie would have to try it (she has a five ingredient rule). Anyway, here it is.

Ingredients

• 3 - 4 beets, peeled and sliced thin (I used a plastic pampered chef slicer for this)
• SALT (originally I reached for the kosher salt, but then opted for Pope salt, but any good sea salt will probably do)
• 2t OLIVE OIL
• 1t minced fresh rosemary
• 1/4 - 1/2t garlic powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

On a rimmed baking sheet (aka jelly roll pan), lay out the beet slices in one layer. Sprinkle with salt, rosemary and garlic powder then drizzle with oil. Toss to coat.

Put another baking sheet on top (got this tip from Martha Stewart; I think it keeps them from curling).

Put in oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and bake another 10 minutes or until they get light. As they get light, remove to a wire rack.

I actually had to put them back in 3 times (for 10 minutes each) to get them all light in color - for a total of 50 minutes. Through that time though, I did remove some of the smaller chips.

My only complaint - is these do shrink up so what starts out as a lot of chips ends up being not so many. For my next attempt, I may cut the oil down to one teaspoon (since they shrink).

My tiny serving of beet chips

Now Weight Watchers would probably want you to count the beets in some way (if you put this recipe into their recipe builder on e-tools) because they're cooked. But come on! Who eats raw beets? You can't say they're zero points only if you eat them raw! So all I counted was the oil in these and that's 2 points (and your daily dose of healthy oils). As good as any baked chip out of bag, if you ask me.

Ah beef, it’s what’s for dinner. Well, maybe not. Because today I chose to do a snack, a dim sum.

You see for me, this week wasn’t as much about coming up with a new recipe featuring the flavors as much as a new … technique. Because seriously, how many new recipes can you really come up with for beef (well, at least seven I guess.)?

So instead, I decided to combine two of my favorite dishes, barbecued beef and Char siu bau – pork buns (okay well, technically Char siu bau are steamed but I like my buns baked ;D).

So here’s what I did. The other night I made barbecue beef (actually, I made it a couple of weeks ago, with a Cooking Light recipe using flank steak but I didn’t like how that came out, so I did it again). This time I based it upon one of my favorite recipes that I got years ago from Taste of Home. Really, you can mix this up with anything. Put a little honey in sometimes, or maybe some maple syrup. The chipotle will make it spicy, don’t want it so spicy, leave the chili out but you get the idea.

Barbecue Beef

Ingredients

• 2 large ONIONS, chopped
• 1C ketchup
• 1 1/4C beef broth
• 1/4C cider vinegar
• 1/4C packed brown sugar
• 3T Worcestershire sauce
• 2T mustard
• 2T Molasses
• 2T citric juice (normally I use lemon but this time I used fresh orange b/c I didn’t have lemon)
• 1t salt
• 1/4t chipotle chili powder
• 1 canned chipotle chili, minced
• 1 4lb boneless chuck roast
• 2T canola oil

Directions

In a medium pot sauté the onions in 1T oil until they’re tender. Add everything else to the pot (except the meat), bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown the roast with 1T oil in an oven proof dutch oven. Pour sauce over meat, cover and put in a preheated 325 degree oven. Cook for 2 hours, turn and cook, covered for another 2 hours or until the roast is fork tender. Shred the meat with two forks, return to sauce and serve.

Now this makes a lot, and you only need like two cups (at most) for the buns, so go ahead and have this for dinner on hamburger rolls with some coleslaw.

Now for the buns.

Barbecue Beef Buns

It’s basically a sweet bread dough that you make so here you go.

Ingredients

• 4T sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup warm milk (like 105 – 110)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2t yeast
• 2 1/4 – 2 3/4 cups flour
• dash of salt
• 1 egg yolk

Directions

I did this all in my kitchen aid. First I primed the mixing bowl. That’s when you put really hot water (from the tap) into it and let it sit for a minute. That way if the bowl is cold, it will warm it up so it doesn’t lower the temperature of liquids.

Next, I put the milk and water in the bowl, and dissolved 2T of the sugar into it. Then I sprinkled the yeast in and let it sit for about 10 minutes until it was foamy. If it doesn’t get foamy, either your yeast is dead or your liquids were too hot or too cold.

Add 2 1/4 cups flour, dash of salt and remaining sugar, mix until smooth and elastic, using the remaining flour as necessary. You can do this by hand, kneading for about five minutes.

Put into a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top, cover and let rise about 30 minutes or until it doubles in size. If you poke it with your fingers, and the indents remain, it's ready.

Take it out, and roll it into a 12” log (wipe your dirty minds!!). Cut into 12, one inch pieces and roll those into balls (again with your dirty minds?). Cover with a moist towel and let it rest for five minutes.

Flatten out a ball with a rolling pin into a four – six inch circle. Put 1T of the barbecue beef (hopefully cooled) into the middle and then stretch the dough over the top, twisting, sealing, pinching whatever. Place seam-side down on a baking sheet (leave space in between), and repeat with 11 remaining pieces (keep those covered while you work so they don’t dry out).

Cover the baking sheet and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Brush with beaten egg yolk (I like to add a splash of water to the yolk before I beat it).

Let rise for 15 minutes.

Bake for 20 or so minutes in a 350 degree oven until they’re golden brown. You can see some leaked; I need to seal them better next time.

Done!

This one was a no brainer for me. Banana and chocolate has always been a favorite combination, from the days when my mother used to make us banana chocolate chip Bundt cakes (as a matter of fact one is sitting on my counter right now awaiting my mother's arrival). Anyway, I came up with the recipe a long time ago when I wanted muffins that were lower in fat. I've experimented with it over the years, using brown sugar, whole wheat pastry flour, and other things, but this is the original.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4C flour
• 1 1/4t baking powder
• 1/2t baking soda
• 3/4t salt
• 2/3C sugar
• 1T canola oil
• 2 eggs
• about 1C mashed bananas (I usually use three very overripe bananas - see the photo - I've even frozen overripe bananas, defrosted them and used those)
• 1/3C mini-semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/3C low fat buttermilk
• 1T vanilla extract

Directions

In a mixer bowl, beat sugar and eggs with electric mixer until thick and light colored. Add oil, bananas, vanilla and buttermilk, mix well.

Sift flour mixture over the bowl and stir just until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop batter into 12 greased muffin cups, bake at 400 degrees until test done (i.e., stick a toothpick in and other than perhaps melted chocolate, it should come out clean) between 15 and 20 minutes.

That's it. They used to be 3 Weight Watcher Points but now they're 4 WW Points Plus.

Enjoy.

I had lots of different ideas floating through my head for rabbit but nothing I could really latch onto. I kept coming back to rabbit fricassee until I realized that was stuck in my head from the old Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck routine.

Then, last night, while sitting at a bar waiting for some friends, the bartender and another patron were trying to remember the name of the dish served in Italy, that's usually veal served with a salad. I chimed in, "Veal Milanese" and they both replied, "Yes!" And I thought, yes, indeed.

So here we have Rabbit Milanese.

Now some of you may quibble that most of my "flavors" are really in the arugula salad (and actually arugula is one of the "flavors") but you're supposed to eat the rabbit and salad together, so to you all, I say, "tough!"

Ingredients

12 oz rabbit loin - I trimmed this and pounded it thin
1/2 C seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 egg beaters
2t olive oil
2 slices BACON
1/2 shallot, minced
1t honey
juice of half a lemon
bunch of arugula

Directions

1. Cook the bacon in a small pan, reserving 1t of the rendered oil. Set the bacon on paper towels to drain.
2. Dredge the flattened rabbit in egg and bread crumbs and then cook in a hot pan, coated with cooking spray and the 2t of olive oil, until lightly browned on both sides. This was pretty quick - a couple of minutes on each side.
3. Saute the shallot in the remaining 1t of bacon fat, add lemon juice and 1t of honey (I forgot the honey in the ingredient picture). Toss with the arugula.

Voila!

Easy peasy man and it came in at 7 weight watcher points, for 3 servings.