{EwE} PIE DAY!

PIE!!  A crispy crust filled with just about anything you like.  Fruit.  Creamy pudding. Nuts and such.  The world is open when it comes to pie.  Which is maybe why Gaye chose SweetyPie as this week’s theme for Eating with Ellie.

I love pie.  But I like healthy.  Hard to put those two together unless you use a recipe from Ellie Krieger, like…

this Banana Cream Pie

While many cream pies are high in calories a slice of this is only 218.  No meringue here.  Just luscious cream with lots of bananas and a crisp graham cracker crust.  

The cream is made with egg yolks, low-fat milk, unflavored gelatin and just a teeny weeny bit of sugar.  The sweetness comes more from the bananas than from the sugar itself.  {1/8 x 1/3 cup sugar per slice.}

 I game the whole pie away {knew we didn’t need it} and made a couple of mini pies for us.  Three bites each – just right!

The recipe is from Ellie’s The Food You Crave page 276.  Also, it is HERE.

For more crusty deliciousness visit with us over at Eating with Ellie.

We don’t post the recipes. We’d rather you purchase Ellie’s books.  AND if you want to cook/bake along with us the the weekly themes are on the right of the page.  Just blog and add your link.  Love to have you with us.

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{EwE} Perfect Pasta

Thank you, Gaye, for choosing pasta for this week’s Eating with Ellie theme. It is my all time comfort food. And then I made a shrimp pasta and it was the ultimate cool night dinner.

White wine, lots of Parmesan along with asparagus and cherry tomatoes in this one.  And lots of good flavor.

My only complaint:  it was a little dry.  I added in the pasta water to make it saucy but  I may not have added enough {recipe calls for 1 cup}.  I was afraid it would be too wet.  I was wrong.  I would definitely make this again.  But with more pasta water added.

The recipe is on page 161 of Ellie’s The Food you Crave. You can also find it HERE.

For more Ellie Pastas visit Eating with Ellie.

 

{EwE} Fall Harvest – Butternut Squash

While it may be Fall in other states it is still summer in the Deep South.  But the fall gardens are granting good stuff to eat. {Which is why I chose Fall Harvest for this weeks theme.}  We harvested some good sweet Butternut Squash a couple of weeks ago and they are now ‘ripe’ and ready to cook.  While we didn’t get as many this year, too much rain then too dry, as last we got enough to do a few dishes like this Curried Butternut Squash soup from Ellie Krieger.

This was pretty tasty and much like the soup I made not long ago.  But this one is a little healthier.  Ellie used canola oil to sweat the onions and garlic rather than butter.  Just that one change saved quite a few calories.

I served it at a dinner and there was none left so it must have been good.  I think it is the addition of the yogurt that takes the flavor over the top.

The recipe came from Ellie’s The Food You Crave or you can find it HERE.

Need more Fall Harvest – Eating with Ellie

 

 

{EwE} Orange-Pistachio Wild Rice Salad

Kayte picked this week’s theme for Eating with Ellie – Soup and Salad.  Really, we could make one or the other or both.  It’s still pretty warm in Louisiana these days so I went with salad.

This is a rice salad mixed with pistachios, orange slices, and basil.  the dressing is made from red wine vinegar, mustard, orange juice, honey and EVOO.

I liked the mix of wild rice and brown rice with the nuts and fruit but I didn’t care much for the dressing.  The rice mix  added a nice ‘tooth feel’ to the salad. I will make it again – but with a different dressing.

I like that Ellie made me think, at least for me, outside of my regular salad ‘box’.

The recipe is from Ellie’s The Food You Crave (page 147) but is also on FoodTV.

There are more soups and/or salads at Eating With Ellie.

 

{EwE} Let’s Make Cake

My Birthday was this past Sunday. I turned….. old enough!! It was a good day with lots of BarBQue and lots of cake. Perfect!!

And since it WAS my birthday week, Kaye chose CAKE for our theme this week. Thanks, Kayte!

But it also happened to be Father’s Day.  And the Man’s favorite cake is Carrot Cake.  Mine happens to be…cake!!  Any cake with lots of frosting!  So kill two celebrations with one dessert!

There are not many cake recipes in Ellie’s books but there happens to be a darn good Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe in The Food You Crave.  It is just as good as the one I make for his birthday every year only healthier.  Less sugar.  Less oil.  Same frosting.  Same great taste. Still moist. Still sweet.  This may be my new g0-to for carrot cuppys!!

The recipe or Carrot Cupcakes with Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting is on page 285.  But it is also on Food Network.

What other cake did we enjoy this week.  Check out Let’s Make Cake at Eating with Ellie.

 

{EwE} What’s on the side?

This week the theme for Eating with Ellie was side dishes.  What do you serve on that other part of the plate?  For me this week it was…

….Broccoli with Toasted Garlic.  This week I am all about easy and this was the easiest side I had marked in Ellie’s books. (This one is from The Food You Crave  which has some great recipes in it.

The garlic is cooked in oil until it is golden.  Then after steaming the broccoli it is stir fried in the garlic-y oil.  Plate the broccoli and sprinkle on the garlic and seasonings.  EASY!!

The recipe is also on FoodTV.

See what the other’s served On The Side for Eating with Ellie.

Altho I usually don’t do this I am also submitting this to I Heart Cooking Clubs for the Potluck.  Just too busy to cook one more new thing this week.

 

{EwE} Veggie Harvest

Spring is HERE!!  And that means planting gardens, harvesting fresh veggies.  RAIN!!!  We have had our share and hve only just had enough dry days to plant part of our garden.  The corn is in.  The watermelon is in.  The ‘maters are planted.  The cucumbers, squash, and eggplant are in the wings.  Fortunately, for this week’s EwE choice my veggie is available year round (as are most these days).

How about Oven-Baked Onion Rings?  Crunchy without all the grease and all the mess of frying.  If I have a choice to go with a burger or sammie when we eat out it IS onion rings.  I love them.  And now I am happy to have a way to enjoy them and not feel guilty.

Ellie used baked potato chips for her crunch but I don’t buy them so I used some baked tortilla chips instead.  Yes, they were GOOD!!!  And easy to make so I don’t have to wait for a special occasion.  AS if…?

The recipe called for 1/2 cup + 2Tbl of flour.  The 2 Tbl goes in the batter.  I used a little more for the batter because I didn’t need the full 1/2 cup to coat the rings.  The batter was a little thin until I added the extra flour and stuck to the onions better.  I didn’t use any MORE flour than called for.

In case you are also a lover of onion rings one serving is ONLY 205 calories.which I know is LOTS less than the fried ones.

The recipe is from The Food You Crave – page 269.

More veggies?  Then visit Eating with Ellie.

 

{EwE} curried butternut squash soup

Easter is this Sunday. And, as usual, we have had our pre-Easter Cold Snap. To me that is always a good thing. I love Spring but I never look forward to the Summer weather here in the deep south. When we have our little Cold Snap I use that as one last chance to make soup, chilli, or stew. This year – soup, which was Chaya’s pick for Eating with Ellie this week.

Ellie’s curried butternut squash soup to be exact.

We still have butternut squash from our fall harvest. It keeps very well in the barn which stays cool and dark through about the end of April.

This soup is flavored with onions, garlic, honey, and curry powder. It is thick and full of flavor. I only made 1/2 of the recipe but I used the full amount of curry powder (1 Tbl + 2 tsp) because I love the deeper flavor and he added heat of the curry powder. This soup will definitely be seen in the kitchen next fall – AFTER the weather turns cool again – which is about mid October!

The recipe is from Ellie’s The Food You Crave.  page 78

For more soups visit Eating with Ellie to see what else is in the bowl this week.

 

{IHCC}It’s not easy being GREEN!!

Or so says Kermit. So many bad thoughts associated with green when it comes to food. Or at least for some. Green veggies are just a no-no! I have to admit I have not always been a green veggie lover, or veggie love period. But that has changed. These days I eat a lot of things I didn’t used to eat – okra, squash, squirrel. And there are some I still don’t – Brussels sprouts, avocado, any pea. But one I have added to my yes list is zucchini. I have learned to love it. We grow it in the garden so I am always looking for new ways to fix it.

Like these ZUCCHINI PARMESAN CRISPS from Ellie Krieger.

Basically it is slices of zucchini that have been tossed with olive oil and then dredged in a mix of grated Parm, bread crumbs and a little salt and pepper.  Easy!

Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes at 450 degrees and you have a nice tasty treat. They are only 105 calories and 6 g of fat for 1/2 of a medium zucchini.  Ellie said to bake until they are crispy and brown. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Perfect!

I would make a small change.  I would probably use  a little more Parm and maybe, maybe, a little Seasoned Salt rather than plain.  (Tony’s maybe!)

The recipe is on page 251 of Ellie’s The Food You Crave.  It’s also HERE!

This weeks theme for I Heart Cooking Clubs, in keeping with St. Patrick’s day, is GREEN EATING!

 

 

{EwE} Apple-Cranberry Turnovers

Phyllo Dough is NOT my friend.  Really NOT my friend! It’s not the phyllo’s fault.  I just have had trouble working with it.  I think it’s because my phyllo had been in my freezer too long.  Some of it was dried out, some of it was doughy.  I think I just need to work with some fresh phyllo.  That being said I won’t hesitate to use it whenever it makes a good dessert better.  Flakier.  Lighter.  Like these turnovers from Ellie.

Apples, cranberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg.  All cooked together.  Making my house smell sooooo good.  And so were the turnovers.

The only change I made was to use some pears I canned this summer instead of the apples. The Man does love pears and since I was making these for him….. Served warm with some vanilla ice cream, YES PLEASE!!

And… AND… only 200 calories each!!

The recipe is on page 294 of Ellie’s The Food You Crave and I found it on the FoodNetwork as well.