I keep mine in sight -- easy to do with my Amana Easy Reach Plus refrigerator, where the fresh food section is on top. No need to dig in the bottom drawers to find my figs; with my Amana refrigerator, everything is right where I need it. Here are two of my favorite easy recipes. Enjoy.
Ice Pops
Its nice to have something cold and fruity in your hand when its a scorcher outside, and nothing beats ice pops. When I was a kid, my lovely Nan and granddad ran a village pub in Essex, England. Every year at the start of summer, they used to send me a huge box of about 200 ice pops. Wed store the pops in a big chest freezer outside the storage shed. This made me quite popular with the local kids -- so much so, in fact, that my supplies would dwindle quickly, so I started to make my own ice pops.
Heres all you need to make some of your own: Buy a couple of those cheap plastic ice pop sets -- you can find them in most kitchen shops. Reach into your fridge, pull out the freshest fruits you have, and squeeze the juice out of them.
Easier yet, dip into the ready-made apple juice, orange juice, pineapple juice or lemonade (I find cocktail combinations also work nicely for the adults -- hard cider makes really tasty ice pops!). You can even raid the kids juice boxes if you want; just use the fruitiest stuff you can find. Now, fill up the pop sets with your chosen juice and put the sticks in before freezing. But you dont have to run out to the storage shed to get them -- just keep the pops handy in your fridges freezer section.
Thats it! Youll be the most popular kid on the block, bar none. For a little variety, throw some fresh strawberries or bananas into your pops before freezing. Or, if youre having a party and want a delicious and attractive treat for your guests, add a few edible flowers such as violets or nasturtiums before freezing. Its a fantastic way to get creative with your pops and impress your mates.
The Easiest, Sexiest Salad in the World
Apart from being a great combination, this recipe is a constant success due to the common-sense marriage of salty Parma ham, milky buffalo mozzarella and sweet figs, which need to be of superb quality. The best figs to use are Italian, and the best time to buy them is from June to August, when theyre in season. Greek figs are also good; theyre in season from September to November. Or, if figs arent your forte, you can use fresh peaches instead.
Choose figs that look like theyre about to split their skins. Use green or black -- it doesnt matter. But do keep them fresh. I store figs and greens in my Amana humidity-controlled Garden Fresh crisper drawer. Its easy for me to see how many figs and greens I have left with the crisper drawers right at eye level.
I use a knife to crisscross the figs, but not quite to the bottom -- one fig per person is always a good start. Then, using your thumbs and forefingers, squeeze the base of the fig to expose the inside. This will allow your dressing to get right into the middle of the fig.
Simply place the figs in a dish, wave around one slice of Parma ham or prosciutto per fig, throw in some slices of buffalo mozzarella, rip over some leaves of green or purple basil and drizzle everything with a heavenly dressing. I use a honey and lemon dressing concoction -- just mix six tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, three tablespoons lemon juice, and a tablespoon of honey with a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Serve with some spare bread on the table to mop up the juices.
There you have it -- easy, simple, fresh and seasonal. Always a treat, especially if you top it off with ice pops for dessert.
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Healthy After School Snacks that Kids Love ARA(ARA) - After a busy day at school, the first thing kids want when they walk in the door is something to eat. Sometimes, they cant even wait that long -- kids who ride the bus need a healthy, packable snack they can stash in their backpacks and carpooling parents need a portable snack kids can eat enroute.
Filling the bill for a healthy, tasty and easy-to-pack snack is a tall order. Lots of snacks appeal to kids, but arent healthy. Or theyre healthy, but hard to take along. One easy alternative is pretzels. The good news is pretzels arent just fun to eat, theyre also low fat and relatively low in calories.
Now, Snyders of Hanover has made pretzels an even better choice. In the past year, theyve reformulated their pretzels to replace partially hydrogenated soybean oil with Canola oil.
Our research and development efforts are dedicated to providing products that satisfy our customers' desires for both good taste and healthier snack alternatives. In fact, most of our pretzel products have been trans fat free since 2002, says Claude O'Connor, vice president of marketing and sales at Snyder's of Hanover. We support the FDA's new regulations that will better inform consumers about the ingredients of the foods they enjoy.
Pretzels have been a popular snack choice for ages. They were invented around 610 A.D. in Southern France or Northern Italy. Historians believe the pretzel made its way to America on the Mayflower in 1620. Local lore has it that the hard pretzel was invented when a bakers apprentice fell asleep while baking soft pretzels. When he awoke, the fire in the hearth had died down and he figured the pretzels hadnt been baked long enough. He fired up the furnace again, baking them twice as long as normal. When the master baker discovered this, he was outraged at the ruined pretzels -- until he ate one out of curiosity. He discovered they were crisp, crunchy and delicious. He was also pleased to discover that the new hard pretzels retained their freshness much longer.
Today, the center of pretzel history in America still resides in Pennsylvania, where the first commercial bakery was founded in 1861. Pretzels have come a long way since that sleepy apprentices time. They come in all shapes and sizes, flavored and unflavored, salted and unsalted. Synders of Hanover offers dozens of pretzel varieties to suit all tastes.
Parents will appreciate the companys new Lunch Packs, which contain eight 1.5-ounce packages of either Pretzel Snaps or Sticks. These convenient packages make it easy to include them in your childs lunch, or to simply toss in his backpack for an afternoon snack. Theyre also easy to stash in your glove compartment for any time the munchies strike.
Look for Sydners pretzels at your local supermarket. For complete nutritional information and a list of products, visit www.snydersofhanover.com.
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Shaping Up Holiday Side Dishes ARA(ARA) - If dinner rolls and bread are usually guests at your holiday table, you can save a step and impress your guests by substituting savory stuffing loaves, muffins or balls. Molded stuffing is a tempting two-in-one side dish that is easy, too, since convenient packaged stuffing mix is the perfect foundation from which to start your adventure.
Wowing your guests this way isnt a new idea, but rather based on a very old, tried-and-true one. The archives that span 60 years of recipes from Mrs. Cubbisons Foods are full of stuffing balls, loaves and muffins from the early days when the company began publishing its recipes for home cooks. The company was started in the early 1900s by the late Sophie Cubbison -- an outstanding cook who invented packaged stuffing mix.
Although these recipes take just minutes to make, because they are so interesting looking and tasting and different than what we traditionally serve today, they are showstoppers that draw oohs and ahhs from guests around the holiday table, said Leo Pearlstein, a longtime friend of Sophie Cubbison, who now serves on the companys board of directors.
Convenience is important for todays cooks who want to emulate antique recipes to the delight of their holiday guests, but who dont have time to slave over a hot stove. There has been a boon in sales of packaged homemade-style croutons in recent years from popular companies like Mrs. Cubbisons Foods (prepared from freshly baked bread that is lightly toasted and perfectly seasoned, they are based on recipes invented by Sophie Cubbison in the early 1900s).
Our holiday side dish soiree includes stuffing muffin, loaf and ball recipes from Mrs. Cubbisons Foods archives dating from the 1950s followed by a distinctive salad recipe:
Fig Stuffing Loaves
2 (6-ounce) bags of Seasoned Cornbread Stuffin
1 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup chopped celery, including leaves
1 orange, chopped, including peel (seeds removed)
1 cup chopped dried figs
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup milk
Combine all ingredients and mix until well blended. Pack mixture into 8 small (4 1/2 by 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch) greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Unmold and serve.
Yields 8 single-serving loaves.
Pumpkin Dressing Balls
1 (6-ounce) bag of Seasoned Dressing
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 cup mashed fresh or canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cups water
6 to 8 walnut halves
In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix with melted butter or margarine. In a separate small bowl, blend pumpkin with allspice. Add pumpkin mixture to stuffing, reserving about 2 tablespoons for garnish. Blend in water, mixing well, but lightly. Shape dressing into 6 or 8 balls and place in greased casserole. Top each with about a teaspoon of reserved pumpkin and place a walnut half in center of each. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, or until firm.
Yields 6 to 8 dressing balls.
Apricot Stuffing Muffins
1 (6-ounce) bag of Seasoned Cornbread Stuffin
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
3 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup crumbled crisp bacon
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots
In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix with melted butter or margarine, eggs, broth, bacon and 1/2 cup of the chopped apricots. Spoon mixture into 12 greased muffin cups. Top each muffin with a sprinkling of the remainder of chopped apricots. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until firm. Cover muffins with aluminum foil if chopped figs on top brown too quickly.
Yields 12 stuffing muffins.
Spicy Cranberry Salad with Feta Crust
1 (6-ounce) box of garlic-flavored croutons
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup feta cheese
3 cups mixed greens
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped Granny Smith apple, with peel
Italian salad dressing, to taste (approximately 1/4 to 1/2 cup)
Finely crush croutons. In a medium bowl, add croutons, olive oil and feta cheese. Combine well. Divide into six portions. Take each portion and mold as crusts into six individual small salad bowls. In a large bowl, combine mixed greens, dried cranberries, celery, apple and Italian dressing. Mix well. Place greens mixture in each salad bowl, slightly pressing greens into crust.
Yields 6 servings.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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