Thursday, July 30, 2009

Can't help it

I have resisted posting recipes on here, because I don't want this to turn into a food blog. But what can I say, it's one of my passions. I'm American, after all!

I am going to make a rule, though. I'm going to post one healthy recipe for every fattening one. I'm going to run out of healthy recipes pretty quickly, so it will be a good challenge.

Recipe #1- Raw Beet and Carrot Salad

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I love Russian salads, but it always seems like there is so much chopping and/or boiling to do. I do not have the patience for that sort of thing.

So here is a simplified version.

Ingredients:
-raw beets
-raw carrots
-fresh herbs (parsley, dill, green onions, cilantro, etc.)
-salad oil
-vinegar to add a little tang (optional)
-salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

-Wash and peel the veggies; grate; dress with oil, etc.
-You can add the herbs ahead of time or wait until you're serving.
-You can make the salad ahead of time for flavors to mingle, but the vitamins will be at their best early on.

I didn't get a photo, but the salad is colorful, as you can imagine (and your kitchen counter will be, too!).

Recipe #2 -Shortbread Sandwich Cookies

These are related to the Australian "yo-yos," although I'm not sure of the exact recipe for those.

If you are going to be making "sandwiches," you have the outer part and the filling. That's what I recommend doing as the cookies don't taste that exciting by themselves.

-For my cookie part, I used a shortbread recipe found here.

-For the filling, I used the Wilton's buttercream icing (1/2 batch). I've used this recipe since I was about 10 and took a cake decorating class. It works really nice for cakes and anything else requiring icing. The shortening gives it a nice stiffness that you can work with, but it doesn't harden up like a glaze.

Timing tip: You are supposed to refrigerate the cookie dough before baking. What I did was made the icing while the dough was chilling; then let the icing chill while the cookies were baking. Cleaned up while the cookies were cooling, and then iced them and put them in the freezer. It all took a little over an hour.

I recommend making them small in size. These are really rich!





3 comments:

  1. #1 sounds like Clown salad (Columbia) or Party Salad (Peru). What is it called in Russia?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't heard of those. I kind of made this one up, but there are different Russian ones. If raw, it might contain cabbage as well. And garlic is an occasional ingredient. Otherwise there are usually boiled beets, potatoes, carrots, eggs, and other ingredients such as peas, cucumbers, pickled cucumbers, and sometimes even fish. One is called "Vinegret" and another (with the fish) is called "Herring in a Fur Coat."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! The sandwich cookies look yummy! :)))
    Thanks for posting the recipes and also the pic. :) I'd love to try it some times. :)

    ReplyDelete

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