A Taste of Cate: You cream, I scream, we all scream for...frozen yogurt???

This blog post was first published by Cate Nolan on June 8, 2016. Enjoy today's Taste of Cate!

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It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that NOTHING makes me gain weight faster than ice cream.

Cue the wails and hair-pulling.

Confession time - I have zero will power.

Can we see where this is going?

Weight-producing food + no will power = DISASTER

I keep saying I will buy no more ice cream or gelato. But then Talenti comes out with yet another new flavor that begs to be sampled and then added to the repertoire.

Alas, an intervention is called for.

A few days ago, I saw a Pinterest link with frozen yogurt ice cream sandwiches.
I wanted to post the gorgeous photo, but I wasn'tt exactly sure what the regs are about putting Pinterest pins on Blogger, so I Googled and found out it actually came from this website.

Frozen Strawberry yogurt sandwiches.

She has a recipe on the site if you want to go for a more traditional treat.


I did mine a little differently. I didn't want ice cream sandwiches. I just wanted something like gelato or ice cream that didn't have a week's worth of sugar in one serving or a calorie count to rival the national debt.

I decided on two varieties.

 First the less healthier choice (But OH SO GOOD!)
I bought Chobani Coconut Greek Yogurt.
150 calories
13 grams of sugar
12 grams of protein


I mixed in sliced almonds (1 g of sugar), unsweetened coconut  (< 1g of sugar) and Ghirardelli's chocolate chips (6 g sugar/ 1 g protein).

For the second one, I used Siggi's vanilla yogurt and Chobani Plain Greek.

Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt.

90 calories
4 grams of sugar
15 grams of protein

Siggi's

100 calories
9 grams of sugar
14 grams of protein


So because I combined them, per serving I had
95 calories
6.5 grams of sugar
14.5 grams of protein



 I added fresh strawberries and Girardelli dark chocolate chips.

Compare that to my favorite gelato:
For the same size serving:

360 calories
46 grams of sugar
6 grams of protein


:(


The homemade frozen yogurt concoction had sort of a soft serve consistency that was really delicious. But it was also really delicious before it made it to the freezer! ;)



I know, I know - I should have just had the strawberries or even the strawberries and chocolate chips. But it's summery weather (finally) and it is a truth universally acknowledged that in summer, ice cream is a necessary evil.


Thought? Encouragement? Condemnations for my weak-willed spirit?

Traditional Almond Cake for Christmas and Book reveal!

Hello, everybody! (Wow, that was bold. But I kinda like it so I'm going to leave it.) The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a recipe I've shared before. Every year since I first brought it to the cafe, in fact. It's sort of a Christmas tradition to make this fragrant almond cake during Advent. Sort of like sugar cookies or pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or Jan's spiced cider. Certain seasons and holidays make us yearn for certain foods. So, although we made it in my new cast iron bundt pan this year, the recipe is still the same! Edna has been retired (but still present in the kitchen to give advice) for several years, but she loves a little bite of fresh almond cake. Happy Advent!

It all started when Edna was thinking on the good old days. She talked about dresses, and aprons and pyrex...

                                                             And utensils...

Which reminded me of something I picked up but wasn't sure what to do with... Ask Edna, of course! She knew what it was right away. It was a hard cheese grater, but you could also use it for grating nuts, like almonds.

But why would I want to grate almonds?? I mean, that's the real question here, right?

Edna was scandalized I had never made an almond cake. And so we began.

I'm a lazy, modern woman and didn't want to spend 3 hours grating almonds. And I have this minor wrist issue. Typing and all that. Ouch. I watch the wrists the same way a model takes care of her face.

(Here I am chained to my desk. I know, a little facial waxing may be in order.)

It's not quite our 'locavore' lifestyle, but a can of almond filling does the trick. You can also find recipes online for making your own if you don't have wrist issues and want to do everything the hard way.

Mix 1 cup of softened butter
        1 cup sugar
        and 3 eggs.  

Wait, this sounds like cookies! Hmmmmm.....

 

And in the almond filling. (Ugh. Is this a dump cake? I'm still scared to Google that term. Looks pretty close to what I was picturing..)

 

In one bowl, mix 2 1/4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 2 tsp baking powder. THIS IS A COOKIE RECIPE! I knew it!
 Oh, wait. And 1/3 cup whole milk. Edna said to add them, alternating between the flour and the milk, but STARTING with the flour and ENDING with the flour. Got that? I almost rolled my eyes, but I've learned to take dear Edna at her word.

You can add a coin for good luck, or a small porcelain figure, like a tiny baby Jesus. It's tradition that the person who finds the coin or the baby has wealth and happiness... But make sure everyone searches their cake piece BEFORE eating it.

 

55 minutes in a greased and floured Bundt pan at 350F. My house smelled AMAZING. It was like an amaretto latte being waved under your nose.

Drizzle of basic powdered sugar icing. I wanted to dress it up but Edna said DO NOT MESS WITH THE CAKE. So I didn't. She was so pleased, immersed in happy memories.

I got out some nice china for our cake and tea. I was ready to serve the warm cake and Edna made a strange little sound.

 She was staring at a plate. Not a nice one, either. It was plastic and a little chipped.

 

Oh, AHEM. Yes. Early art project. Mother's Day, kindergarten, specifically.

See, she's wearing a crown. :) All mamas are princesses, you know. I have no idea if she really had a striped dress like that, or if I just liked red and blue. And I'm fairly sure her hands were NEVER that size.

Edna requested her piece of cake on that old plate. I tried to talk her out of it. Old, yes, but not a nice kind of old! Not pretty vintage! Plastic and scribbled and not safe for the mircrowave kind of old.

She would not be dissuaded. She said that vintage is a matter of time, and treasure is a matter of perspective. In forty years, my grandchildren will think it's a great plate so I should stop sticking it in the microwave.

One big thumbs up from one small person. He also managed to sneak in some blue frosting. Because all food tastes better when it's BLUE.

Now, for the reveal! I started several new projects this year. One was a whole new pen name for Regency books, another took months of my time and I STILL can't say anything about it (ha!), but one long-term project is finally emerging. It's a six author, shared-world series set in Arcadia Valley, Idaho. 

It's taken months of planning, organization, and work, but our first book (a novella collection) is up for pre-order! Starting in February , one book a month will be released by one of the six authors in the group, for a total of 24 books. (I'm up first with Summer's Glory, and I LOVE the book. But I always love the book I just finished so... take that with a grain of salt. LOL)

 The blurb for my novella, called Spring's Blessing:

Life gets complicated for Charlotte MacGregor when a motherless child and a handsome widower encroach on her carefully laid plans. Will she keep her heart above the fray, or take a leap of faith?

So, that's the almond cake revisit for 2016 and my new book reveal. Can you believe the year is almost over? It went by so quickly!! 

Be sure to stop by my author pages at Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael, or visit my blog at The Things That Last for more news!.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for...frozen yogurt???

 It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that NOTHING makes me gain weight faster than ice cream.

Cue the wails and hair-pulling.

Confession time - I have zero will power.

Can we see where this is going?

Weight-producing food + no will power = DISASTER

I keep saying I will buy no more ice cream or gelato. But then Talenti comes out with yet another new flavor that begs to be sampled and then added to the repertoire.

Alas, an intervention is called for.

A few days ago, I saw a Pinterest link with frozen yogurt ice cream sandwiches.
I wanted to post the gorgeous photo, but I wasn'tt exactly sure what the regs are about putting Pinterest pins on Blogger, so I Googled and found out it actually came from this website.

Frozen Strawberry yogurt sandwiches.

She has a recipe on the site if you want to go for a more traditional treat.


I did mine a little differently. I didn't want ice cream sandwiches. I just wanted something like gelato or ice cream that didn't have a week's worth of sugar in one serving or a calorie count to rival the national debt.

I decided on two varieties.

 First the less healthier choice (But OH SO GOOD!)
I bought Chobani Coconut Greek Yogurt.
150 calories
13 grams of sugar
12 grams of protein


I mixed in sliced almonds (1 g of sugar), unsweetened coconut  (< 1g of sugar) and Ghirardelli's chocolate chips (6 g sugar/ 1 g protein).

For the second one, I used Siggi's vanilla yogurt and Chobani Plain Greek.

Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt.

90 calories
4 grams of sugar
15 grams of protein

Siggi's

100 calories
9 grams of sugar
14 grams of protein


So because I combined them, per serving I had
95 calories
6.5 grams of sugar
14.5 grams of protein



 I added fresh strawberries and Girardelli dark chocolate chips.

Compare that to my favorite gelato:
For the same size serving:

360 calories
46 grams of sugar
6 grams of protein


:(


The homemade frozen yogurt concoction had sort of a soft serve consistency that was really delicious. But it was also really delicious before it made it to the freezer! ;)



I know, I know - I should have just had the strawberries or even the strawberries and chocolate chips. But it's summery weather (finally) and it is a truth universally acknowledged that in summer, ice cream is a necessary evil.


Thought? Encouragement? Condemnations for my weak-willed spirit?

March Madness, Pantry Style

March Madness. You may think it's all about this:

And it is. We are die hard NC State fans and we made it in. So did Duke, Carolina, and Davidson. Here in North Carolina, with a bunch of teams in March Madness, folks are watching at work and creating office pools, heading to sports bars and watching their phones A LOT.

But there's another kind of March Madness going on in our house. Spring fever! I am in a clean out mode.

I tend to use all fresh veggies from this point on. Local produce is more plentiful at our grocery stores. Our farmer's market friends have been busy in their greenhouses.

My friend Clay who I knew in another work life. Now he's an organic farmer and I buy the best veggies from him!

 So, it's time to revisit my canned and dried goods. There are things on the shelves that were bought in a winter storm induced moment. Things that mean winter weight gain and now I'm looking at a warm weather diet. Ingredients that will be great in summer dishes but others great for donation to the food pantry. I take like items off the shelves and determine what will work best for spring and summer dishes and what heads off to our local ministry's food pantry. 

For instance, rice and bean noodles face off:

  
Rice was great in soups and casseroles this winter. But that meant weight gain. Who's better? Pretty much a no-brainer for this time of year.  Black bean noodles have protein, fiber and hardly any carbs.

Peanut butter versus almonds?

Okay, I'm out of natural peanut butter. BUT almonds led all winter long and they are perfect for hiking. Almonds for the win.

Then there's tuna up against beans.

Whew. This game, I mean comparison, was tougher than I thought. Tuna is a power packed traditional diet food but it does have issues. Mercury levels, sodium in some brands, price. Canned beans are the underdog since they are considered a survival of the cheapest food. But beans of all kinds have a great blend of fiber, carbs and protein and the price is right. They go great as a side dish or cold marinated salad ingredient. Beans pulls ahead.

Lastly, we're moving out of hot cereal season. 

 
One team from the North and one new addition from  South America made this an interesting bracket face off. Oatmeal and quinoa are so close in protein, iron and carbs, flip-flopping on percentages and even gluten-free. Quinoa can be used in salads and sides while oatmeal is great for granola bars and cookies for hiking. I had to call this one a tie.

So, do you spring clean your pantry? Are there staples you consider fall/winter or spring/summer musts? What are winners on your ingredient list? And lastly, are you paying attention to that other March Madness that involves a ball?      

Christmas cookies start..... NOW!

 

 

 

Hi everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I thought I'd try a different kind of cookie. I heard from a friend that 'horn cookies' were delicious. Okay, I'm game! And Edna's been languishing in the corner so it was perfect timing to start our sampling of Christmas cookies. (No, it's not too early! We're RESEARCHING.)

 Almonds. Fresh, unsalted, raw. YUMMY. Try not to eat them by the handful. For the recipe it calls for:
1/2 lb almonds
3/4 unsalted butter
3/4 powdered sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla

(Again, the pictures show a lot more because... well.... six kids... and me and hungry hubby and neighbors and friends and people dropping by and... You get the idea.)

 Tiny nut grinder is hardly equipped for the job but we're going to do it in batches.

 Nut grinder is very loud! Poor kid. I see two things when I look at this picture.
One: we've been very sick and my poor four year old looks exhausted, pale, and has bags under his eyes.
Two: I should not be allowed to cut my children's hair.

 Almonds are ground and sitting prettily in their bowl...

 Putting in the butter. Edna is SOOOOOOO excited! (Again, the haircut.)

 OK, so, this was a bit of a job for her. In fact, it seems like a lot of things have gotten harder and harder for dear Edna. But she powers on...
And starts to smoke.
But she's still going, burning hot, when I turn the knob.

"But... we're not... DONE!" she wheezes.

"I know, Edna, but let's take a break." I get a cool cloth and lay it over her drive shaft. She was burning hot. And not in a good way.

I waved hubby over and gave him 'the look'. You know, the one that says, "Help me keep Edna from feeling like she's failing!"

 And being his intuitive self, he grabbed her bowl and started mixing by hand. By hand meaning WITH HIS HANDS. Edna was very quiet from her place over in the corner... Maybe she was resting. Maybe she was pouting. I was afraid to look.

 This is my child who hates his picture taken. That is all. I pretended I was taking a picture of the wall. Apparently, that made sense to his 3 year old self and he calmly waited while I snapped a photo of the blank wall behind him.
*sigh* Someone needs to hide the scissors when I saw I'm going to give everybody a haircut.

 Once we'd added all the ingredients, we were supposed to roll the dough into balls, then shape it like small crescents. Here is one child's version. I started to say, 'good job', thinking he really had tried and I was a supportive mom and all that.... but he pointed at it and said, "I made POOP!" *eye roll*

 Here is a batch of cookies before they head into the oven. I peeked over at Edna and she was still quiet, perhaps napping under her cool cloth. Her base was spattered with butter and sugar and nut dust. I had a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

The first batch came out! So delicious! But.... I swear they tasted just like the Mexican Wedding Cookies I made last year. Huh. I looked into the horn cookies and I guess they're also called Hungarian Horn Cookies and Italian Wedding Cookies! Same circus, different clowns. Still tasty.

Anyway, I came back to wipe down dear Edna and she whirred her beaters, as if to get my attention. I could feel tears welling in my eyes. I knew what she was going to say.

"I think it's time for me to retire," she said.

"No! You have lots of life left in you! It was one bad day, and those cookies were really too dry and the recipe called for way too many nuts and I always double the recipe when I shouldn't... Please, Edna, I need you. I'll have to go back to buying store bought cookies without your help. " I couldn't think of anything more to say and sniffed loudly into the silence.

"I'm not leaving. I'll stay right over there in the corner and live the good life of frostings and meringues." Her voice wasn't unkind. And she didn't seem sad.

OH! I wiped my eyes. "So... we should be shopping for another mixer?"

"Absolutely. But promise me one thing."

"Anything!" I was so happy. It was the best case scenario. Edna was staying and we would add to our little kitchen family with a heavy duty mixer that could handle all sorts of menial jobs.

"Let me choose, okay?" Her chrome twinkled in the sunlight.

And I was happy to agree. So, maybe by next week there will be another friend to introduce. Will it be

something like this?

Or this?

Or, since we have so many kids, should we go this route?

And then a friend sent me this picture from a shop near her house.

"Oooooh," Edna said. "Is that a retirement community?"

So, we'll see what she chooses and I'm excited to be baking with BOTH of them in the Christmas season! Until next time!

SEASON OF HOPE is now available!! Check it out here...

What's in your pantry?

You know that credit card commercial that asks, "what's in your wallet?" Well, I want to ask you, "what's in your pantry?"

I love having a pantry.  I mean it's a bi-fold door closet that holds all my kitchen ingredients but that makes it a pantry right?

But I also have something even better than a pantry.  A back-in-the day pantry. A PIE SAFE! Man O and his dad, Papa Jack, built this for me thirty years ago when I was pregnant.  That was before push presents even.

Pie safes were the place you put all your food stuffs, including pies, you wanted to save from the critters that wandered in and out of the log cabin, the farmhouse, the mansion. Most were open in some shape or another, either with screening or tin with holes punched for air circulation. The richer the owner, the fancier the pie safe.

Being as ours was for decoration only, we decided on copper. Yep, Man O punched every single hole in those panels AND the ones you can't see on each side. I slept through all the copper punching. Must have been pregnancy hormones.

These days we keep most of our ingredients in our pantry closet. It has plenty of room to put up a lot of stuff and not worry about going to the grocery story for this and that.  But there are certain things I make sure to have around all the time.

Raw almonds.  My go-to snack, a garnish for meat or salad, and can be ground for a pie crust.

Small serving size spaghetti sauce.   I couldn't believe it when they came out with something smaller than a huge jar. Perfect for us empty-nesters. I use it for spaghetti of course but also chili or a sauce for chicken Parmesan.  No waste.

 

Olive Oil.  I don't use butter much any more. Olive oil is great for my stir-frys, salad dressings, and barbecue sauces. And as Missy pointed out the other week, it makes a great moisturizer.

  

Cinnamon.  We are into fall and I make sure to have plenty of cinnamon around, not only because it tastes great on apples and pears but I put it in recipes to help control my blood sugar. Try marinating pork in cinnamon, apple juice and juice of one lemon. Yum.

Mini Wheats.  Didn't expect this one from a gluten-free gal did you? But this is the only cereal Man O eats. I mean ONLY as in I buy six boxes on sale plus coupons at a time. The clerk always asks if I have a lot of children.

Virginia thought it was so funny she gave his compulsion a nod in one of her stories. I mean we currently have an entire shelf of the stuff because he gets worried if it runs low.  Man O lets the gas tank get as low as it will go but get down to one box of cereal and he panics.

So what about you? Do you have a pantry? Do you have a few items always in stock at your house? Let us know what your go-to ingredients or foods are! Or is there a food your family insists must be present at all times?