Sunday, May 20, 2007

Italian Pizza Recipe with pesto

Watercress and Walnut Pesto

Serves 5
1 bunch watercress, thickest stems removed
2 cloves garlic
1/4 chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 - 3/4 cup olive oil

Direction:

Place all of the ingredients except the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel
blade. Turn the motor on and pour the olive oil through the feed tube while the mixture purées and emulsifies. Keep covered and refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Serve warm or at room temperature. This a excellent with your pasta or spread on chunks
of rustic bread.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Fruit pizza recipe for chaildren's

Child friendly recipes are fun to create. What makes a child friend recipe? A recipe that incorporates fun and good foods. Fruits and vegetables are favorite ingredients in child friendly recipes. Using these fresh ingredients provide vibrant colors that are appealing to children while also providing a nutritious meal.

Fruit can be cut into small sizes so a toddler can experience the texture as well as the taste of these healthy food group. Fruits or vegetables make excellent finger foods and can be easily added to fun recipes that children love. This fun "fruit pizza" is an example of a food project that allows children to select fruits in different colors and create a healthy snack while having fun creating fun faces.

Allow children to choose colorful fruits at the store or farmers' market. Turn the kids loose in the kitchen creating imaginative faces on this delicious fruit pizza. Odds are, they will snack as they create--and like what they taste.

Ingredients

*Graham cracker piecrust

Filling for pie:

*1/2 cup fat free or low fat cream cheese

*1 tablespoon sugar

*1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

*1 tablespoon 1% milk

Toppings:

Suggestions for fruit pizza faces:

*Strawberries for the nose

*Kiwi fruit or seedless grapes for the eyes

*A banana for the mouth

The choices for making the face are only limited by their imaginations. The kids can choose pineapples, mandarin orange, grapes or any fruit they like.

Instructions:

To Prepare the Filling:

1. Whisk together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice.

2. Add just enough milk to the mix to make it spreadable onto the crust.

3. Spread the cream-cheese mixture with a rubber spatula.

4. Spread to the edge of the crust.

Now its time for the kids to get involved.

*Allow the kids to arrange the fruit onto the cream cheese mixture.

*Don't worry if it is not perfect. It is perfectly nutritious and fun.

*Children may want to add sprinkles or chocolate chips. Let their imaginations run wild.

*Refrigerate the pizza for at least 1 hour.

*Slice with a sharp knife and serve.

The kids will be impatient and want to eat the pizza right away. This pizza cream cheese mixture is almost set but will cut easier if refrigerated for at least 1 hour. Let the kids help you with the cleanup. They will be anxious to taste their creation.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Diabetic Italian Seafood Stew Pizza Recipe

INGREDIENTS

-1 cup bottled clam juice
- 4 cloves garlic (2 smashed, 2 minced)
- 1 pound mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded, or small cherrystone clams
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 8 ounces squid, cleaned and cut into 1/2-inch-thick rings
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup red-wine vinegar, plus more to taste
- 1 (14-1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 2 pounds firm white-fleshed fish fillet, such as
monkfish or halibut, skinned and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
- 2 tablespoons fine dry breadcrumbs
- Freshly ground pepper to taste

Making:

Bring clam juice and smashed garlic to a simmer in a large pot.

Add mussels (or clams) and cook, covered, until open, 3 to 5 minutes. Discard garlic; remove mussels from the pot, discarding any that did not open. Using a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth, strain broth into a bowl; set aside. Wipe out the pot.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the pot and heat over medium-low heat.Add onion and minced garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Increase heat to high; add squid and cook,stirring, until the squid turns opaque, about 1 minute.

Add wine and 1/3 cup vinegar; cook, stirring occasionally,until the liquid has reduced by half, 5 to 7 minutes.Add tomatoes and the reserved mussel broth. Reduce heat to low,cover and simmer until the squid is tender, 18 to 20 minutes.

Just before serving, add fish and shrimp to the simmering stew and cook, covered, just until the fish is opaque in the center, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved mussels and heat through, about 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, remove solids to a bowl and cover to keep warm. Stir 3 tablespoons parsley,breadcrumbs and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil into the sauce.

Simmer until the sauce thickens to the consistency of heavy cream, 1 to 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning with pepper and vinegar. Return the solids to the sauce. Serve immediately, garnished with the remaining 1 tablespoon parsley.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/8 of recipe):
Calories: 280, Fat: 8 g, Cholesterol: 156 mg,
Carbohydrate: 8 g, Protein: 39 g, Fiber: 1 g, Sodium: 405 mg
Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Vegetable, 5 Very Lean Meat, 1 Fat