Amazing Baked Apples with Vanilla-Honey Yogurt

from Clean Eating magazine (Jan/Feb 2010)

Serves 4

• 1 medium lemon
• 4 large, firm apples, cored and hollowed (leaving bottoms intact)
• 2 T unsalted almond butter (or unsalted nut butter of your choice)
• 1 T unsweetened dried apricots, chopped
• 1 T dried, pitted prunes, chopped
• 1 T unsweetened raisins
• 2 T toasted shaved hazelnuts, divided (I used walnuts)
• 2 tsp raw organic honey (I used the squeezable bear honey)
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Vanilla-Honey Yogurt

• 1 C low-fat plain yogurt (I used fat-free Greek yogurt)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used the fake stuff)
• 2 tsp raw organic honey (again - squeezable bear works just as well!)

Preheat oven to 375. Juice lemon, yielding about 2 T juice. Then split open lemon and rub inside flesh over inside of each apple. Drizzle about 1/8 tsp lemon juice inside cavity of each apple, reserving remaining juice. In bowl, combine almond butter, apricots, prunes, raisins, hazelnuts (reserving 1 tsp for garnish), honey and cinnamon. Stuff each cavity with filling, dividing evenly among 4 apples. Press stuffing down firmly and place apples cavity-side-up, in a shallow baking dish. Mix together remaining lemon juice and 1/4 C water and pour around apples. Place dish in oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until firm but tender.

Prepare Vanilla Honey Yogurt: Place yogurt in a strainer lined with paper towel and set strainer over a bowl. Let sit in fridge for no less than 1 hour or until thick. Pour off liquid, place thickened yogurt in bowl and stir in vanilla and honey. Spoon 1 T yogurt over each warm baked apple and sprinkle with remaining nuts.

My Review: It was tasty, but I completely screwed this recipe up. I only used two apples, but I kept the filling and yogurt amounts the same. I also mixed the lemon juice with the stuffing ingredients, by mistake. Since Greek yogurt is already pretty thick, I didn't mess with the whole strainer thing. And let me tell you, chopping up prunes is disgusting! But, when all is said and done, these apples were pretty delicious and very filling!

Spicy Tuna Cakes

from Recipezaar

Made about 13 patties (2 or 3 patties per serving)

• 3 (6-ounce) cans chunk light tuna in water (drained)
• 1 1/2 cups Italian breadcrumbs (I used regular)
• 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
• 4 tablespoons Miracle Whip (I used light mayo)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
• 1/2 cup onion (finely diced)
• 1/4 cup bell pepper (finely diced)
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon red curry powder
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon roasted garlic
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Coat patties in this mixture before frying/baking:

• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons salt

Mix all ingredients like you would if you were making a meatloaf. Shape into patties. Dredge patties in the cornmeal mixture and fry until crunchy. Serve with a sauce of your choice or eat them like a sandwich on a toasted bun.

(I sprayed these with cooking spray and baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, turning them over halfway through.)

Spicy Mayo (I served this as the dipping sauce.)

• 1/3 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• Hot sauce, to taste

Mix well.

The Review: These were DELICIOUS! Very flavorful - the perfect blend of spices! They are very spicy, however, so if you're not a hot food lover, you may want to cut back or omit the spicier ingredients. I think a tartar sauce or a cucumber-based dipping sauce would work well.

Hot and Spicy Tuna Melt Panini

adapted from the Mise En Place website

2 cans solid white tuna, drained

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1 celery stalk, diced (I used way more than this)

1/4 red onion, finely diced (I used regular onions)

1 teaspoon minced jalapeno pepper (I used way more than this)

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons lime juice (I used lemon juice)

4 panini buns, halved (I used light whole wheat bread)

4 slices Monterey Jack cheese with hot peppers (I used light cheddar)

Mix tuna, mayonnaise, celery, onion, jalapeno, chili powder and lime juice in a bowl. Spread about a quarter of the mixture over each panini bottom, top with cheese and close the sandwich. Cook in a panini press on medium until buns are toasted and cheese is melted, about 6 minutes. Note: if you do not have a panini press, you can use a skillet. Just press to flatten. (I used my sandwich maker.)

My Review: This was an interesting twist on tuna salad. I'm a big fan of flaming hot spice, so I enjoyed a spicier version of tuna. I even served the tuna mixture over lettuce for lunch the next day. This was a quick easy meal - and may be my new favorite way to make tuna. I did screw up one thing - the celery chunks were way too big. Next time, I'll dice them smaller.

Roast Beef with Coffee Gravy

from Closet Cooking (click here to see the recipe with photos)

• 3-5 pound chuck roast
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 onions (sliced)
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 cups coffee
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 tablespoon flour mixed into 1 tablespoon water
• salt and pepper to taste
• *"new" potatoes - my addition
• * carrots cut into 1-inch pieces - my addition

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the beef and brown on all sides and set aside.Add the onion to the pan and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes.

Add the beef stock and deglaze the pan. Add the beef back to the pan along with the coffee, balsamic vinegar, bay leaves and thyme and bring to a simmer.

Cover and transfer to a preheated 325F over and bake until fork tender, about 3-5 hours.Set the beef aside, cover and let cool. Strain the solids from the gravy and skim off the fat. Add the flour and water mixture and simmer until it thickens, a few minutes. Season the gravy with salt and pepper. *I added carrots and potatoes in the last hour of cooking.

My Review: Yum! This was delicious! I've never made a pot roast before. I'm not sure why - because it was incredibly easy. I did have some problems with the gravy. I've never made gravy before and it was kind of hard to do. It turned out to be more like broth with clumps of flour that I couldn't get unclumped. It still tasted OK, though.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup

from For the Love of Cooking (click here to see the official recipe with pictures)

Serves 4 @ 308 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g fiber (pancakes only)

Cinnamon Syrup:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup water

Stir all the dry ingredients together in a small saucepan. Add the water and vanilla and stir occasionally until boiling. Let it boil for a few minutes while stirring until it thickens. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

Pancakes:

• 2 cups of Bisquick pancake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp clove

Combine all dry ingredients until well blended. Add the milk and eggs into dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly (there should be some lumps). Heat a bit of butter in a skillet or griddle, over medium heat. Once hot, add a ladle full of pancake batter to the pan and cook for a few minutes; once you see bubbles forming on top of the pancakes, flip. Cook for another 1-2 minutes until done. Serve with fresh hot cinnamon syrup.

My Review: These were delicious, of course! I'm all about pumpkin anything so of course pumpkin pancakes are a big hit. The syrup was yummy too - sweet and spicy!

Cheddar and Hard Cider Fondue

From the Food Network

Serves 6

• 1 (12-ounce) bottle hard cider
• 3/4 cup chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped (I actually ran out of garlic so I used garlic powder)
• 1/2 pound Gruyere, grated (I could not find this so I subbed with Swiss)
• 1/2 pound sharp Vermont or New York yellow cheddar
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used paprika and red pepper flakes)
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon Bourbon, whiskey or apple jack, optional (I used whiskey)
• I also added a little spicy mustard because Swiss is milder than Gruyere

Fondue Dippers:

Cooked chicken and apple sausages, chorizo, or mini hot dogs; sliced baguette or black bread, radishes, roasted shallots, roasted mushrooms or small fingerlings or baby potatoes, pears, apples, or pretzels. (I used pumpernickel pretzels, apple slices and Lil' Smokies)

Heat cider, broth, Worcestershire, and garlic in a medium pot over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes.Toss the cheeses together in a medium bowl. Sift the corn starch over the cheese, and toss to coat lightly.

Using a wooden spoon, sprinkle some cheese mixture into the warm liquid and continue to stir in small amounts of cheese until it is all incorporated and the fondue is smooth and melted, about 15 minutes. Stir in cayenne, salt and Bourbon, if using.

Transfer to a fondue pot or double boiler and serve with desired dippers.

My Review: I took this to a Halloween party over the weekend. It had a good flavor, but I must have done something wrong when I put it together. The recipe said it was an 'intermediate' recipe - maybe I'm still at a beginner level!

The texture was more like soup than fondue so it was hard to eat. I didn't want to bring a fondue pot to the party so I used a little crockpot instead. (That might have been the source of the texture problem!) It was OK - but I don't think I would make this again.