Strawberry Basil Sorbet in a Sweet Rice Ring

When I read the ingredients for the Royal Foodie Joust (strawberries, basil, whole grain), I knew immeadiately I wanted to make a strawberry-basil sorbet. However, my sorbet is not really sweet, so when considering the grain to pair with the sorbet, I chose a sweet steamed rice cake (also known as puto). I cut the rice cake into a ring and filled it with the sorbet.

Strawberry Basil Sorbet

2 cups diced strawberries
1 cup chopped basil
5 cups water
2 tbsp honey
1 lemon

Bring strawberries, water and honey to a boil. When the liquid begins to boil, remove pot from the heat. Add basil and juice the lemon into the pot. Chill. Once chilled, blend ingredients. Follow directions on your ice cream maker to turn mixture into sorbet.

Sweet Steamed Rice Cake aka Puto

2 cups rice
2 cups light coconut milk
4 packets Truvia*
dash of salt
1 tbsp baking powder
4 tbsp water

Grind rice into powder. You can use rice flour but I prefer to grind my own so it is still a bit chunky. Mix ingredients together and let sit for ten to thirty minutes. Pour into a tin and steam for 20-25 minutes. Cut into rings and let cool slightly. Fill with sorbet and serve immeadiately.

* I chose to use Truvia because I wanted to use a low calorie natural sweetener. You can sweeten the cake with your favorite sweetener, just taste it before you add too much!

I am entering this recipe in the Leftover Queen's Royal Foodie Joust!

May Mystery Box Results & June's Ingredients!

This month must have been crazy for everyone! When my students picked out cheese, chocolate and chilies as the three ingredients, I had dozens of ideas flash through my mind. When it came down to crunch time, I ended up making a delicious (and super easy) popcorn snack! I will get to it in one moment, but first to announce the only entry (I know she scared everyone off with her fabulousness!).

Lauren over at Healthy Delicious made Mexican Cannolis with Homemade Ricotta! Her recipe included some tequila to boot! I am dying to try them :-)

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Spicy, Sweet, and Salty Popcorn

Make some air popped popcorn (or your favorite method), and drizzle unfiltered olive oil. Grate your favorite chocolate and hard cheese. Sprinkle chili powder and sea salt. Enjoy! (I told you it was easy!)

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For June, I hit up my friends! For those of you who had random g-chat messages asking for your favorite fruit in season, the first protein you could think of, or a specific carb... if you didn't respond fast enough, sorry!

The ingredients this month (courtesy of Pam, Erica and Emily): Strawberries, Filet Mignon, Egg Noodles

Yes they are an unusual combination. But for those of you who follow Chopped, what did you expect? For those who want to participate but do not eat filet mignon, tempeh will be the accepted substitute.

I invite you all to join me on this monthly adventure. Each month I will post the mystery box of ingredients. Your job is to create a dish that utilizes all of these ingredients and document the preparation and final product as well as a review of how it turned out. Post a link to your documentation in the comment section of the mystery box post. At the end of the month, all eligible entries will be entered to win a fabulous prize! The contest closes the last day of the month at midnight. While you can use other ingredients from your pantry, the dish must include the mystery ingredients.

The random winner for June will receive a travel snack pack with healthy nutrition bars, homemade blended teas, and an on-the-go beverage container.

Reminders:

1. All of the mystery ingredients must be used in one dish.

2. You may use other ingredients to complete the dish.

3. Post the link to your blog in the comments section of THIS post in order to be counted for the contest by June 30th at midnight.

4. Your entry should have the Mystery Box logo and a link back to this post in order to be eligible.

Good luck and get cooking!!!!

Pumpkin and Brie Panini: Bauman Family Fruit Butters

If you have been following my food journals at Uncovering Me, then you may already know that I bought a Breville Ikon Panini Press and I am in love! It has non stick plates which means I don't have to use any added oils when I make sandwiches. And make sandwiches I have!

As a featured publisher at Foodbuzz, I was given the opportunity to try Ile de France Le Brie. I plan on sharing more about the cheese specifically in an upcoming blog, but I knew I had to try some of it in a panini. I also had just received a sampler of Bauman Family Fruit Butters. As I look to utilize more naturally sweetened products, I ran across this company who sweeten most of their fruit products with fruit juice or honey. Many of the products they just let the fruit sweeten itself! This results in an all natural and low calorie alternative to overly processed spreads you find on store shelves. You can find these fruit butters in stores or order them online! One of the butters was a pumpkin butter that is sweetened with fruit juice and is only 25 calories for a tablespoon!

Pumpkin and Brie Panini

2 slices Oroweat Light Whole Wheat Bread (or your favorite whole wheat bread, adjust calories accordingly)
1 tbsp Bauman Family No Sugar Added Pumpkin Butter
1.5 oz Ile de France Le Brie

Warm panini press while assembling sandwich. On one piece of bread, spread pumpkin butter. Place cheese on top of butter and top off with second slice of bread. Grill on low for 3 minutes. Enjoy!

This sandwich is sweet, spicy and creamy. With April being National Grilled Cheese month, consider this my contribution to the celebration. It is so delicious I had one for dinner last night and another for breakfast this morning.

Nutritional Information using the above named ingredients: 255 calories/14 grams of fat/7 grams of fiber/11.5 grams of protein.


There are many uses for fruit butters besides paninis. I have used all of these to sweeten my steel cuts oats in the morning. They are also great on waffles and toast as well as mixed into yogurt. I even used the butters in savory main courses! All of the Bauman Fruit Butters I tried ranged in calories from 25 to 35 calories per tablespoon and were bursting with sweet fruit flavors. I love that the company has been around for over 100 years and is still family owned and operated.

For those of you who enjoy fruit butters, am I missing another use? Please share ideas and links to your favorite fruit butter recipes here!

Morning Delight! Honeyville Steel Cut Oats and Freeze Dried Berries

I am a breakfast girl. I need food in my stomach within an hour of getting up or I am out of whack for the day.

I am also not a morning person. I like to sleep as LATE as possible. In fact this morning, I found out I was a "sleep snoozer". I have been told this is what someone who hits the snooze button in their sleep is called. Which I did so many times this morning, I missed my run!

Luckily, I had made breakfast last night! And it was still delicious this morning.

Oatmeal has been all the rage for blogging foodies. But most people like the convenience of quick cooking rolled oatmeal. Which is understandable if you have a need for speed. But let me take a couple minutes to try and convert you to something that takes a little more preparation but is well worth the wait (and can be prepped ahead of time!):

Steel Cut Oatmeal!!!

The fine folks at Honeyville allowed me to opportunity to sample their Steel Cut Oatmeal as well as their Freeze Dried Strawberries and Freeze Dried Blueberries. I was excited to try out something new from a family owned company with a longstanding reputation for working with restaurants around the country. What does that mean for an individual consumer? Their online store is fantastically inexpensive! And if you have a larger family or big event, the bulk ordering is also a great deal! Not to mention the inexpensive shipping cost.

But enough about how awesome the company is and how great the prices are. Let's talk about taste!

I started by preparing two cups of steel cut oatmeal (8 servings) in twelve cups of boiling water. The process took approximately 45 minutes, but aside from stirring, was really easy. It cooks up to somewhere around a cup a serving cooked. The reason for prepping a larger batch was so I could portion it out for later.
The oatmeal itself is extra creamy and smooth with bites of whole oatmeal. I feel healthier eating it but also more satisfied. It not only filled me up this morning but kept me full for the couple hours before I got my caffine fix. It is high in fiber and protein which helps make it so filling. I wanted more for lunch but alas I didn't bring any to school!

When I preportioned the cooked oatmeal, I took a couple of servings and mixed in 1/4 cup of strawberries or 1/4 cup of blueberries. The strawberries are slices that are also great for munching (guess what is going in my carry-on for next week's championships!) and the blueberries are large and whole. Both are crispy and full of flavor. Did I mention how low in calories they are?
Back to the oatmeal. Adding the fruit in was the idea of Chris over at Honeyville. His suggestion was fabulous! The creaminess of the oats and the natural sweetness of the strawberries made the perfect morning treat. As a child, I loved Strawberries and Cream instant oatmeal. This reminded of that... only ten times better because it wasn't overly sweet or full of chemicals.

I look forward to sleeping in and just popping my oatmeal in the micro each morning. Honeyville made a believer out of me that taking the extra time is worth it for flavor, nutrition and satiation.

Ingredients in Honeyville Steel Cut Oats: Whole Grain Oats

Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup uncooked Honeyville Steel Cut Oats: 160 calories/3 grams of fat/5 grams of fiber/6 grams of protein

Ingredients in Honeyville Freeze Dried Strawberries: Strawberries

Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup Honeyville Freeze Dried Strawberries: 15 calories/0 grams of fat/1 gram of fiber/0 grams of protein

Ingredients in Honeyville Freeze Dried Blueberries: Blueberries

Nutritional Information for 1/4 cup Honeyville Freeze Dried Blueberries: 30 calories/0 grams of fat/1 gram of fiber/0 grams of protein

Strawberry Kiwi Salsa

1/2 pint of strawberries, diced
2 kiwis, diced
2 small/medium vine ripened tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
1 jalepeno, deseeded and dehulled, diced
1/4 cup chopped white onion

Toss all ingredients gently and let rest for five minutes or more. A couple of notes: I keep the skin on the kiwi because according to a number of sources including the Cancer Resource Center, kiwi skin carries a number of nutrients. As long as you scrub well and dice small, you won't notice the skin and you will get bonus health benefits. I also served the salsa in a mini pita from Trader Joe's (70/.5/0/2) and 2 ounces of grilled boneless, skinless organically fed chicken breast. The salsa was also just great eaten by itself (I definitely had a couple spoonfuls).


The nutritional information is for 1/4 of the recipe. I did not measure it out but I can tell you that is over 1/2 cup of salsa since I just put away 2/3 of the recipe and it barely fit into my 2.5 cup container!

Nutritional Information: 116 calories/7 grams of fat/5.5 grams of fiber/2 grams of protein

I am also including it for 1/8 since I realized just how much salsa it makes (I tried eating a quarter of the recipe and it is a LOT)!!!! You probably won't even need this much but it is just THAT good!

Nutritional Information: 58 calories/3.5 grams of fat/2.75 grams of fiber/1 gram of protein

Rubarb-Apple-Strawberry Sauce

3 Rhubarb Stalks, washed and sliced
4 Braeburn Apples, washed and sliced into chips
Cinnamon Stick
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
2 baskets of Strawberries, rinsed and quartered

Cover bottom of slow cooker with rhubarb and place cinnamon stick in center. Sprinkle sugar over rhubarb. Layer apple slices over rhubarb, covering the rhubarb entirely. Drizzle water over apple layer. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Mix in strawberries and cook on low for another hour.

This sauce is perfect over slow churn vanilla bean ice cream. It would also be great in oatmeal, yogurt, and who knows what else!

Serving size will vary but 1/12th of the pot is 1 Point.