Gifts

Dill-icious Greek Yogurt Dip

November 6, 2009 by Rebecca 14 Comments

This is the cook’s time of year -the holiday season; the time when we pull out all the stops in our culinary repertoires. This is when cooks everywhere extend themselves to create the most spectacular and succulent savories and sweets that they can possibly turn out of their kitchen. It is time to ‘wow’ your family and friends with beautiful, memorable repasts. Crisp skinned turkey fresh from the oven. Buttermilk cornbread stuffing redolent with sage, cranberries, and pecans. Festive platters and buffet tables covered with bite-sized morsels and finger foods. Velvety pumpkin pie smothered with sinful piles of brandy-laced whipped cream. Crystal punch bowls brimming with that generations-old recipe for lemon shrub or mulled wine or spiced cider or homemade eggnog. This is what we wait for and plan for through the rest of the year. And how am I starting out the holiday season here on Foodie With Family? What show-stopper am I sharing with you to impress you and all your friends and family?

Dip.

Yes, dip.

Okay. Admittedly that doesn’t sound really exciting. But don’t go! I promise this is worth it. Consider this. Isn’t dip at every party whether fancy or casual? And it’s usually an afterthought. Grab the little green tub from the dairy section of the grocery store. You know, the stuff right by the sour cream. If you follow my line of logic (For me this passes for logic.) that makes dip -the most neglected item in the holiday food arsenal- the perfect place to start.

A couple basic pantry items and a tub of Greek yogurt (glorious Greek yogurt) are all it takes to make over the humble dip into ‘that dish’: the recipe everyone asks for the day of, the week after and months beyond the party.

Keep it simple like today’s recipe.

Or add a few extra special ingredients to transform it yet again (Like the recipe I’ll be posting on Sunday for Spanakopita Dip, but I’m getting ahead of myself.) Either way, you end up with a unique dip that is superior to anything you can buy from a store.

If you haven’t yet experienced Greek yogurt in all its glory, this is a great time to start. Greek yogurt has been strained, meaning extra whey has been removed from it, making it extra thick, smooth and creamy. This thickness is what makes it the perfect stand-in for the usual suspects in dip recipes; sour cream and mayonnaise. Why swap out the traditional ingredients? There are two very good and very different reasons.

Mayonnaise* is a common offender in food poisoning cases. When mayonnaise is present and is held at room temperature for long periods of time, it is a perfect breeding ground for food borne pathogens such as e. coli, salmonella and other nasties. That means dip made with Greek yogurt can sit out at room temperature safely much longer than dips made with mayonnaise.
Unlike mayonnaise and sour cream, Greek yogurt is good for you! Higher in protein and lower in both calories and saturated fat than mayonnaise and sour cream**, Greek yogurt has the added benefit of being a live and active cultured product. In other words, it’s good for your digestive tract. When you replace mayo and sour cream with yogurt you get all the good things that yogurt can do for you. You keep the creamy, silky, substantial feel of mayonnaise and sour cream with none of the bad stuff (saturated fat, calories, etc…) that come with them.

*There are differences in the level of risk between commercial and homemade mayonnaise. Commercial mayonnaise often is acidic and salty enough to hold down bacterial growth. Homemade mayonnaise can vary greatly in the acid and salt levels and is usually made with raw egg. Food borne illnesses occuring after eating items made with commercial mayonnaise are most likely to be caused by the ingredients mixed into the mayonnaise rather than the mayonnaise itself. Don’t misunderstand me, I’ll carry on eating homemade mayonnaise because I have a healthy immune system and it tastes so danged good. Just be aware that this is reality. For more information on food borne illnesses related to mayonnaise, you can click here.

**Yes. There are some sour creams that contain probiotic cultures, but it’s not a given. You have to read your labels!

Being so healthy and so easy to pull together makes this dip a cinch for last minute party preparations and for snack attacks. So go on; indulge! Dunk your chips and vegetable sticks with wild abandon! It’s good for you!

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Dill-icious Greek Yogurt Dip

Looking for a quick and inexpensive hostess or host gift for a party? Put the dry ingredients for this dip into a little resealable plastic bag. Neatly print the instructions for the dip on a note card and attach the card and a little wooden spoon to the bag with ribbon or raffia. This is great by itself or with a tub of Greek yogurt to accompany it!

Ingredients:

1 (17.6 ounce) container Greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes)
1 Tablespoon dry minced onion flakes
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
½ teaspoon paprika

Open your container of Greek yogurt. If yours is like the kind I buy, you’ll find a little piece of parchment laying on top of the yogurt. You’re going to want to get rid of that. I forgot it once before making smoothies with Greek yogurt. Blended parchment doesn’t taste so good.

Buh-bye, parchment.

Now add the yogurt, along with the remaining ingredients to a bowl and mix until smooth.

Refrigerate for an hour prior to serving. Serve with vegetable sticks, chips, crackers or bread.

Store leftovers in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

I realize there is, all of a sudden, a lot of food photographed in my hands by the window. We’re talking about Late Fall and Winter in the Southern Tier of New York. I believe we have about 427 minutes of sunlight these days and that’ll get shorter before it gets longer. I’m sorry, but a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do.

On Sunday, we’ll dress up this basic dip and turn it into spectacular Spanakopita Dip. More dip? Oh yes. But this one’s different; Spanakopita Dip is not just for dipping…

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Component Foods, Gifts, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks, Vegetarian

Bacon and Horseradish Dip

December 24, 2008 by Valerie 3 Comments

From as far back as I can remember, Christmas Eve was all about snacking–we would have a table loaded down with various cold meats and cheeses, special dark and light rye and pumpernickel breads, my mother’s Christmas punch, lots of chips and crackers with accompanying dips and spreads, and of course, platters of cookies. While we had a bit of time when we were all gathered for the evening meal of Christmas Soup, it was the prolonged evening of grazing that we really looked forward to as children. to be honest, as adults as well!

One of my favorite dips was one that was bought, already prepared, Heluva Good’s brand of Bacon Horseradish Sour Cream Dip. I would zero in on where that dip was placed, and once we were given the go ahead, I did my best to ensure a healthy (??) helping made it to my plate. Others could have their fill of onion dip, liptauer cheese, etc.–it was bacon and horseradish for me every time!

So imagine my dismay, when shopping for our own quiet Christmas eve meal this year, when I could find no such item in any of the upper MI grocery stores we frequent. I went from store to store, finding plenty of sour cream, and plenty of variations on the French Onion dip theme, but nothing else. To say I was distraught is understatement. However, necessity being the mother of invention, I grabbed the onion dip and decided I would dress it up myself and see if I could come close to my Christmas Eve favorite.

Well, needless to say, I have found some good degree of success with this, or would not be sharing it with you now!! Very fast, super easy, this would make a wonderful addition to your own snacking regimen, or a tremendous gift for a friend who would enjoy this combination of flavors.

Easy Bacon Horseradish Dip

1 12-oz. container French onion dip

6 oz. thin-sliced bacon, cut in half

3 T. prepared horseradish

Cook bacon over very low heat, letting it crisp slowly. Drain the bacon, and while it drains, lightly whisk together the onion dip and horseradish. Once the bacon has drained and cooled a bit, chop into fairly small bits, and give it all a final crumble with your hands, making sure no large bits remain. Gently stir into the dip, pour into an appropriate container, cover and refrigerate. Yes. Good.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Gifts, Recipes, Snacks, Valerie Tagged With: bacon, dips, Food gifts, horseradish, quick and easy

Spicy Glazed Nut Mix: Foodie Gift #21

December 24, 2008 by Valerie 1 Comment

Okay, we’re getting down to the finish line here, and if you are like me, you have found that you have missed a couple of folks you wish to gift, and today is NOT a day you want to spend going shopping. So, you have to take a look at what is left from all the cooking, baking and preparing you’ve done so far and see what is left.

This recipe is great for all those leftover nuts that you may have on hand from preparing various cookies and candies, and is very flexible regarding the mix of nuts you can use. AND it’s darn good as well! I know I found it on the web, but for once I have not remembered to keep the site info, so my apologies for not being able to credit the source. When I find it, I’ll be sure to add it here!

Very quick to fix and very tasty, here is the:

Spicy Glazed Nut Mix

About 4 cups

2 cups mixed nuts (untoasted); any combination of cashews, whole almonds, pecan halves, and hazelnuts1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional if you don’t like this kind of spicy)

1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse or kosher salt (kosher is best, but regular salt will do)

2 cups small pretzel twists (or other pretzel bits, crispy cereal, whatever)

1. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and roast in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes, stirring once for even toasting.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cayenne, and maple syrup. Add the warm nuts, pretzels, and salt, and stir until the nuts and pretzels are completely coated.

3. Spread the mixture back on the baking sheet and return to the oven for 10 minutes, stirring twice during cooking. Remove from oven and cool completely, separating the nuts and pretzels as they cool.

Once cool this mixture can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Gifts, Recipes, Snacks, Valerie Tagged With: Food gifts, nuts, quick and easy

Honey Caramel and Coconut Chocolate Bars: Foodie Gift #20

December 23, 2008 by Rebecca 1 Comment

I think this might be a case of saving best for near the last, except that I didn’t know they’d be so dadburned good when I made them last night. I didn’t even really plan on making them, but I had to play with some coconut I had in the pantry. My sister’s kids have some serious dietary restrictions and I was trying to come up with a really decadent Christmas treat that I could give them. My aunties plied me with sweets and I’m nothing if I’m not a slave to tradition. Corn syrup was out so I boiled honey for long enough to begin caramelizing it, threw my bag of unsweetened dried coconut in, stirred vigorously, pressed it into a pan and waited with baited breath. Actually I waited with pizza breath, but really, that just doesn’t sound good.

I’m not usually a real coconut lover so I figured if I found it palatable the kids would lurve it. I sliced the slab-o-coconut and honey caramel into blocks that were roughly one inch by two inches. I melted dark chocolate, dunked away and stashed the tray in the fridge for an hour. The peanut gallery hovered around the fridge waiting to see if the candy was even edible. (This from my six year old, Ty, who said, “Do people even eat this stuff?” while dangerously waving my open bag of flaked coconut.) They were hopeful because, as Ty also said, “If it’s in chocolate, it can’t be half bad, right Mom? I can at least lick off the chocolate even if the inside’s nasty.” Such a ray of sunshine, this child.

The tray came out of the fridge and before I could blink it was half emptied. Two candy bars were in each little set of hands hand and three were in the big mitts that belong to The Evil Genius. And the ultimate testament to this candy? They ate it slowly. They actually savored it. I will repeat myself. They ate it slowly because they enjoyed it. so. much. Normally, Hoover has nothing on my family for sheer speed of food consumption. It is a wonder they ever taste anything at all with the vitesse with which they ingest. This candy made them slow down and make happy noises. I’d say that’s danged good for a couple minutes of work.

The honey caramel is chewy and sweet and perfect and the coconut gives it wonderful texture and nutty flavor. And topping it with dark chocolate? Shave my legs and call me smoothie. They’re good enough to make your tongue slap your brain silly.

Make a tray of these and pop them on a cute little plate from the local dollar store or in a pretty cellophane bag closed with ribbon.

Honey Caramel and Coconut Chocolate Bars: Foodie Gift #20

Consider this fair warning. These are extremely addictive and horribly simple to make. Filled with honey and coconut these might almost be health food, though, so go for it. But, for the record, I did warn you.

Ingredients:

12 ounces dried coconut flakes (I used unsweetened, you can use sweetened if that’s your only option)
1 1/2 cups honey
16 ounces good dark chocolate, chopped or dark chocolate chips
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Line a cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Set aside.

Put honey in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Allow to boil for exactly one minute and thirty seconds. Turn off heat and stir in coconut until evenly moist. Scrape contents onto the lined cookie sheet. Use wet hands to firmly press the coconut and honey mixture into a square that is about 1/2′- 3/4″ thick. The shape is not something to fret, just approximate the square and thickness. Part of the charm of homemade candies is that they’re not always uniform.

Stash the cookie sheet in the freezer for an hour or two, just make sure it’s really firm and cold before proceeding. Scooch the parchment onto a cutting board and cut into desired sizes. I cut mine into bars that were about 1″ x 2.5″ but do whatever floats your boat. Separate the bars, re-line your cookie sheet with parchment and turn your attention to the chocolate.

In a microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate chips or chunks and the butter. Microwave on HIGH for about 45 seconds. Remove bowl, stir well, and return to microwave for another 15 second burst. Repeat until the chocolate is melted and smooth when you stir it.

Use two dinner forks to lower one bar at a time into the chocolate. Flip the bar so it’s completely coated, scrape across the lip of the bowl to remove excess and place on the parchment paper to set up. Repeat until all bars are coated or you run out of chocolate because little fingers keep dipping into your bowl.

Place pan back in fridge for one hour for the chocolate to firm up. Share with friends or hide in the bathroom and eat several of them yourself. Your call. I won’t judge.

Filed Under: candy, Desserts, Gifts, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian

Last Minute Quick Breads: Foodie Gifts 18# and #19

December 23, 2008 by Valerie Leave a Comment

They don’t call them quick breads for nothin’! Here are a couple of recipes I’ve used to great acclaim over the years, and my source for these is my mother–a great baker in her own right. These two breads in particular have been appreciated as Christmas gifts by my own family, and I just shipped a batch of them out–they are very good travelers, and keep wonderfully moist for a long time. So if you are looking for a couple more quick gifts, these may serve!

Dawn’s Applesauce Bread

1/2 c. shortening or butter, or half and half of each

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1 1/4 c. applesauce

1/2 c. walnuts (optional)

Glaze: 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar mixed with 1 T. apple juice or cider

Cream sugar with shortening till light, mix in eggs and vanilla. Whisk together dry ingredients, and mix half into the creamed mixture till blended; stir in applesauce, then follow with the rest of the dry mixture. Stir until just well blended. Pour into a 9 x 5 loaf pan, or two 7 inch loaf pans, or four 5 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for up to an hour, testing the smaller loaves beginning at 40 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans and glaze. Then let cool completely.

Dawn’s Banana Bread, with Christmas Bread Option

1 cup mashed ripe banana

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1/3 c. buttermilk or sour milk

1 t. vanilla

1 3/4 c. flour

1 1/2 c. sugar (Yep, 1 1/2 cups!)

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon (optional)

1/2 t. nutmeg (optional)

Christmas bread additions: 1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts, 1/2 c. chocolate chips, 1/2 c. dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, chopped apricots all work well)

Mix together banana, eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. Whisk together dry ingredients and combine well with the liquid mixture. Add the Christmas bread additions if desired, and pour into prepared 9 x 5 loaf pan, or two 7 inch pans, or four 5 inch pans. Bake at 350 for up to 1 hour and 15 minutes for the large loaf, and begin checking smaller loaves at 45 minutes, baking until a toothpick is clean of batter when checking for doneness. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pans, then cool completely. These loaves are best served a day or more after baking.

Merry Christmas!

Filed Under: Bread, Desserts, Gifts, Valerie Tagged With: applesauce, banana, Bread, dried fruit, Food gifts, nuts, pecans, quick bread, walnuts

Never-ending Vanilla Sugar: Foodie Gift #17

December 22, 2008 by Rebecca 3 Comments

A jar of vanilla sugar is one of the most underrated and sublime items to keep in your pantry. A sprinkle on top of cookies or muffins, or in coffee or tea takes something that’s already good and transforms it into something amazing. If you’re wondering how to procure this ambrosia I have a couple pieces of advice for you. For starters, do not pay crazy amounts of money to buy vanilla sugar from some very reputable food places. The prices are ridiculous. $26 and change for 3 pounds of sugar? I don’t think so. And making something so divine?

Well, shoot. It’s so easy it doesn’t even count as a recipe, but I’m putting it up here anyway because it’s the gift that keeps on giving. If you give someone vanilla sugar they need never be without it again. You just keep adding sugar to the jar and giving it a shake and the vanilla flavor just keeps on kicking. Are you ready? Here’s how you do it.

Never-Ending Vanilla Sugar: Foodie Gift #17.

Pretty this up by tying a wooden spoon and a recipe card containing a sugar cookie recipe with raffia or satin ribbon to the jar. It’ll look as good as it tastes.

Ingredients:

2 vanilla beans
4 cups granulated sugar

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and pry open a bit. Place beans in a quart jar that has a tight fitting lid. Pour sugar over the beans. Screw the lid down tight and shake. You’re done. REALLY! It’s that simple.

Filed Under: Component Foods, Gifts, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars

No-Cook Mint Patties: Foodie Gift #16

December 21, 2008 by Valerie 3 Comments

I remember coming across this recipe years ago–it was an instant hit then, and its been the same in all the years I’ve shared it since. These creamy, buttery mints are easy to put together, store well, and make a lot, so there is plenty to share. I usually make a double batch at a time, since there is enough room on my table and cake racks to handle the drying needed for these candies.

From Cooks.com, here is the recipe (with a couple of my own tweaks included):

NO COOK MINT PATTIES

Printed from COOKS.COM

1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/4 c. butter, softened
1 tsp. peppermint extract
4 c. sifted powdered sugar
2 drops red food coloring
2 drops green food coloring

In small bowl combine corn syrup, butter and peppermint. Beat until well combined.

Gradually add 2 cups of sugar beating well. Stir in as much of the remaining sugar you can to mix with a spoon. Turn out onto a surface lightly coated with powdered sugar. Knead in remaining sugar-enough to make a stiff dough that is smooth. Divide into thirds.

Leaving one of the three white (I actually used yellow food coloring for the third portion)-Knead in food coloring-red and green-in the other two.

Shape into 3/4 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Press with fork. Let dry several hours (or overnight), then move to a cooling rack to complete the drying process (usually 24 hours is enough). Place in an airtight container and store in a cool place.

Filed Under: candy, Gifts, Recipes, Valerie Tagged With: candy, food gift, mint, no-cook

Christmas Pickles (a.k.a. Fire and Ice Pickles…) Foodie Gift #14

December 17, 2008 by Rebecca 3 Comments

Have you seen ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean’? I love Mr. Bean. If I weren’t married to the suave and debonair Evil Genius I might have a crush on Mr. Bean. I’m just that kind of dork. And one of my favorite Mr. Bean lines ever comes from this , my favorite, episode. Can someone please explain to me why it’s so darned funny when Bean says”Christmas socks.” Is there any reason why it should double me over in laughter?

Val and I haven’t forgotten our promise to provide a new homemade gift idea for each day leading up to Christmas. In between Val preparing mass mailings for the camp, me ferrying kids to and fro, and all the other tap dancing that comes this time of year, we’ve been busy cooking our bums off. Actually, the reality is more that we’re cooking our bums bigger. If we could ‘cook them off’ we’d be in serious business and the world would beat a path to our doors. As it is, we’ll be content if everyone puts on a ‘winter coat’ of padding along with us. But we digress…

What we mean to say is that while we’ve had a couple of days interlude between the last recipe and this one, we’ll make up for it. If you approach this like a politician we’re not in a recipe deficit at all. We’ll just back load our recipes and call it even, eh? After today’s we owe you 10 more recipes. And unlike politicians, we’ll deliver!

Price Breakdown: (rounding up)

$4.00 2 jars, 32 ounces each, hamburger dill slices

$1.00 4 cups white sugar from a 5 pound bag

$0.10 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

$0.25 2 Tablespoons Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

$0.50 3 large cloves of garlic from a head of garlic bought in the produce section

$5.85 Grand Total for 3 pints of Christmas Fire and Ice Pickles or $1.95 per pint.

Christmas Fire and Ice Christmas Pickles: Foodie Gift #14

A jar of these come dressed for Christmas with the crushed red pepper flakes among the green pickle slices. This sweet and slightly hot pickle is fantastic on roast meat, cold cut or meatloaf sandwiches. It also complements corned beef beautifully. Unless you live in Amish country you’re not likely to be able to find these in the stores very easily. A jar of these pickles makes a wonderfully unique and tasty gift. Be prepared to share the recipe!

The fact that the recipe is super simple to make -starting with store bought pickles- and don’t require boiling water or pressure canning adds to its charms.

For best results, prepare these at least one week -but preferably two- prior to serving and allow them to age in the refrigerator. You may need to keep a stick handy to beat people away from them while the pickles age. They will keep up to 8 weeks after aging in a tightly closed jar in the refrigerator.

Yield: 3 pints

Ingredients:

2 jars, 32 oz. each, hamburger dill slices or dill pickle spears
4 cups sugar
1-2 Tablespoons hot sauce (We use Frank’s Red Hot in this)
1/4-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
3 large cloves, or 6 small cloves, garlic, lightly smashed and peeled

Pour pickles into a colander over the sink. Allow to drain briefly.

Add pickles, sugar, crushed pepper flakes, and hot sauce to a large mixing bowl.

Mix gently until everything is evenly distributed.

When it looks like this you’re done mixing.

Cover tightly and allow to rest at room temperature for four hours, stirring every so often. After four hours, evenly divide the garlic cloves between three impeccably clean pint jars. Spoon the pickles into the jars and pour the liquid over the pickles to within 1/4″ of the lid. Screw lids in place tightly and allow to rest in the fridge for at least one week -but preferably closer to two weeks- prior to serving.

And what do these pickles have to do with Mr. Bean? Nothing more than both of them make us feel all Christmasy inside. Make some Christmas pickles and watch some Mr. Bean and put on your Christmas socks. Merry Christmas.