Strawberries & Pretzels

Strawberries are on sale this week at my local grocery store – 3 pints for $5! That’s a steal! So of course I bought 3 pints, and needed to brainstorm ways to use them before they spoiled. Blender drinks came to mind, but it was only 8 in the morning (and we are out of rum…). My next thought was pie.

If pie can be healthy, this is a healthy pie. I’m not saying it’s good for you or will aid in whatever diet/weight loss plan you subscribe to. But in a dessert world full of butter, cream, and sugar, this pie is relatively low on all three. So in my humble non-scientific opinion, this pie must be healthy. To start, it has 2 pints of strawberries. They are sliced thin and piled high. You are guaranteed to eat at least 6 strawberries with every slice. Next is the crust – it’s pretzel! Pretzels are considered a “healthy” salty snack, much preferable to potato chips or french fries….and it’s lower in calories and sugar than the traditional go-to for crumb crust – the graham cracker. Finally is the topping. It may look like whip cream, but it’s actually yogurt and sour cream. So there….it’s healthy….for pie.

One quick tip before we get to the recipe. I suggest everyone invest (all of $5) in an egg slicer. It’s this cool contraption with 10 wires used to thinly and evenly slice hard boiled eggs. It can also be used to slice strawberries, kiwi, mushrooms or any other soft (and small, the cutting area is only 2 – 3 inches wide) food. I perfectly sliced 2 pints of strawberries in about 10 minutes (including the hulling part). Not too bad!

Strawberry Pie

• 2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1-1/2 cups cold water
• 1 package (.3 ounce) sugar-free strawberry gelatin
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pretzel crumb crust
• 2 C. yogurt topping

In a medium saucepan, combine  cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil and whisk for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and add strawberry gelatin and sugar. Whisk until dissolved. Add in strawberries then pour into cooled crust. Allow pie to cool then refrigerate for 2 hours. Top with yogurt topping and serve.

Pretzel Crumb Crust

• 1 1/2 C. pretzel crumbs*
• 6 T. butter, melted
• 1 T. honey

Combine all ingredients. Press into a lightly greased pie pan. Bake at 350 for 15 – 20 minutes or until starting to brown. Allow crust to cool before adding in the strawberry filling.

*This is an estimate

Yogurt Topping

• 1 C. French vanilla yogurt
• 1 C. sour cream
• 1 T. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until needed.

Strawberry Pie recipe modified from Taste of Home.

Pork Taquitos

It’s the end of the week, and I need a dish to use up the rest of this pork butt. The ripe avocados on the kitchen sill are also screaming to be devoured. Not to mention it’s Thursday (the ultimate day to enjoy a margarita) – so something with a Mexican flare is definitely a must! Mexican Night is always a good way to use up leftover meat. Pot roast, grilled chicken, pork butt….all can be quickly and easily refabbed into an awesome weeknight meal.

We tend to shy away from corn tortillas. Not because I don’t like them….but because the first time I made them for The Man, I made an awful dish. I had never bought soft corn tortillas before, and I pretty much just treated them like flour tortillas – big mistake. Soft corn tortillas have a nasty raw corn taste. They have to be cooked  fried for them to be palatable. Ever since that one snafu, The Man has vetoed the use of corn tortillas in his dinner plans. But today, I convinced him it was me – not them. We’ll see how round 2 goes!

Pork Taquitos

• 2 C. cooked pork (substitute chicken or beef)
• 6 Oz. beer (any lager, or light beer)
• 1/2 C. water
• 1/4 c. salsa
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 T. cilantro, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 corn tortillas
• 8 Oz. shredded cheese
• Canola oil

In a saute pan, combine meat, beer, salsa, and cumin. Bring to a simmer, reduce to low, and cook until meat is in small shreds. Remove from heat and drain any excess liquid. Fold in cilantro

For assembly : Heat tortillas in the microwave until pliable (about 30 seconds). Working one tortilla at a time, place 1 ounce of cheese and 1/8 of meat onto bottom half of tortilla. Roll taquito tightly. Place seam side down in a greased baking dish. Repeat until all 8 taquitos are rolled. If tortillas start to break, reheat them.

Lightly brush each taquito with canola oil. Bake in a 400F oven for 25 – 30 minutes or until crispy and starting to brown.

Serve Taquitos with Mexican Rice, Guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

Mexican Rice

• 1 C. white rice
• 1 T. butter
• 1/4 C. salsa
• 1 C. chicken stock
• 3/4 C. water
• 1/2 lime
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

In a medium pot, melt butter. Saute rice in butter over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add in all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Stir, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Remove rice from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Remove lid and fluff rice with a fork.

Guacamole

• 2 ripe avocados
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco Sauce
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Slice avocados in half. Remove seed and scoop flesh out with a spoon. Add remaining ingredients, mash/mix avocado with a fork. Serve immediately.

Hey! Don’t forget to enter The Highfalutin Duck first ever GIVEAWAY! A $25 gift card to your favorite restaurant is at stake! So go enter!!

White Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese

We eat alot of macaroni and cheese around here – Kraft from the box, made from scratch, out at a restaurant….when you have a 3 year old, mac and cheese is a regular. I make a few different versions of homemade macaroni and cheese, but this one is a household favorite (I think it’s the garlic breadcrumb topping….)

• 1/2 Lb. small pasta (macaroni, shells, rigatoni, etc)
• 1/4 C. sour cream
• 1/4 C. milk
• 3 T. butter
• 4 oz. extra sharp white cheddar, grated
• 4 oz. pepper jack, grated
• 2 oz. parmesan, grated
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. mustard powder
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 – 1 C. garlic bread crumbs

Cook pasta to package directions. Drain and pour back into the pan. Add in butter, stir until melted. Stir in sour cream until all pasta is coated. Add in cheese and seasonings. Stir until coated. Pour into greased baking dish. Top with bread crumbs and bake at 350 for 30 minutes (or until top is brown and dish is bubbly).

Garlic Bread Crumbs

In a food processor, pulse leftover garlic bread until fine. Alternatively – use day old, toasted bread, 1 clove garlic, salt and pepper, and 1 tsp. olive oil. Pulse until fine crumbs.

Meyer Lemon Pillow Cheesecake

Thanks to my good friend Myles, I have a big bag of home grown Meyer lemons! I can rarely find them at my grocery store, so I never get the chance to use them. The meyer lemon is a hybrid citrus fruit – a lemon mixed with an orange. It has the flavor of a lemon, with hints of sweet orangeness – I am excited to put them to good use!

I found this Pillow Cheesecake recipe on Pinterest a few months back. This is by far the BEST cheesecake filling recipe I have found. Whipped egg whites make the texture is so light and fluffy…it’s the ideal cheesecake. So it seems a great starting point for my Meyer lemon cheesecake. If you have some time, definitely read her post – she has some good tips for making cheesecake.

Crust

• 1 1/2 Cups graham cracker crumbs
• 6 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients in a fork. Pour into a 9″ spring-form pan, and use a glass to pat the crumbs down evenly. Refrigerate for an hour. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Filling

• 1 Cup sugar
• Zest of one Meyer lemon
• 2 Pounds cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/4 Cup sour cream
• 5 eggs, separated
• 2 Tablespoons corn starch, sifted

Combine sugar and zest in a food processor. Pulse until fine and combined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix cream cheese, butter, sour cream, lemon sugar, and corn starch. Beat until just combined. Add the egg yolks one at a time, making sure each is completely incorporated and smooth.

In a clean bowl, whip room temperature egg whites until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into batter.

Pour the batter into the spring form pan and wrap the bottom in tin foil. Place the pan into a roasting dish, and add enough hot water to cover half of the pan.

Bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours. When finished, crack open the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool (in the oven) for half an hour. Remove and continue to cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate and serve cold.

I served my cake with a quick lemon-vanilla sauce. Use the juice of your zested Meyer lemon, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and powdered sugar.

Banana Sour Cream Coffee Cake

While sitting in my mom’s kitchen waiting on our traditional New Year’s Day fare (black eyed peas and collard greens), we started looking through her recipe box. She has been keeping and filing away recipes for decades, and it is full of some great ones. She was looking for one in particular (Cheese Crescents she snipped from a early-1980’s issue of Women’s Day) but I came across a few that I had to jot down – including this gem. Banana Sour Cream Coffee Cake. Not only does it sound awesome, I also happen to have 3 ripe bananas (I had considered making some banana bread this morning), sour cream, and all the other ingredients. Except the pecans…..but I “borrowed” some from my mom, with the promise of coffee cake in the near future.

The complete recipe, with measurements can be found at the bottom of the post

This is my first time baking this recipe. And unlike many of the recipes in her box, this one was void of any side notes or tips. She also didn’t have much to say about it, nor could she remember the last time she made it….so we are going to explore this one together…

UPDATE! Long time family friend Paula Reynolds read this post, and recognized the recipe. “The best banana bread I ever found” she said – and her banana bread has always been my favorite. Well turns out, this is it! She found the recipe 20+ years ago in Southern Living, and passed it along to my mom at some point. Thanks Mrs. Paula!!

There are two elements to this coffee cake – the banana cake batter, and a sugar/pecan topping. The pecans are also layered into the cake. In a small bowl, combine the chopped pecans (I chop mine small, The Man hates nuts….) sugar, and cinnamon – set it aside for later. Go ahead and peel / mash the bananas in a small bowl. And while you are getting bowls out – whisk your dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.

The batter starts with creaming Crisco and sugar.

Scrape the bowl and beater down, then add in the eggs one at a time. Next you add the bananas and vanilla. Once combined, scrape the bowl down again and add in the sour cream.

Stop the mixer and add all of the flour mixture into the batter. Turn the mixer on low, and stir until just incorporated. Don’t over beat, or the cake will be tough.

Now we are ready for the layers! Grease your bundt pan (I used Crisco because it’s in the recipe and I already had it out). Spoon half of the nut mixture into the pan, followed by half of the batter. Then spoon in the second half of the nuts, and final half of batter.

After the cake bakes, set it on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes. I know, it smells good….but be patient! Then unmold the cake onto the rack.

I’ve just finished eating my first slice. The man also had a piece (he loves it – even with the nuts!). I think one thing is unanimous – the cake is moist, tender and delicious. But I think the nut layer needs some work. First, I’m going to use brown sugar next time and a little more cinnamon. I also made a mistake and kind of piled the nuts / sugar into the bottom of the pan – instead of spreading it out and trying to get at least some sugar going up the sides of the pan. But for a first try recipe, I’m pretty happy with the results! Now if we can keep ourselves from eating it all – I still owe my mom half a coffee cake!

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine in a medium bowl, set aside

Pecan layer

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine in a small bowl, set aside

Batter

• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• dry ingredients

Cream shortening and sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add eggs one at a time. Mix until combined and scrape down sides again. Add in bananas and vanilla. Once combined, add in sour cream. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and add in dry ingredients. Stir on low until just combined. Do not over mix.

Thoroughly grease a bundt pan. Spoon half of pecan mixture into bottom. Top pecans with half of batter. Layer second half of pecan mixture followed by second half of batter. Bake at 350F for 40 – 45 minutes.

Allow to cool at least 5 minutes on a wire rack before unmolding.