photo © 2010 jenny cu | more info

Ingredients:
1 lb pasta, ideally Penne or other large pasta
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
3 teaspoons Watkins garlic liquid spice or 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon Watkins Grapeseed oil, flavor of choice
1 can chopped tomatoes (12 oz/

1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon Watkins chicken soup and gravy base
1 teaspoon Watkins basil
Watkins black pepper to taste

Instructions: Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.

In a frying pan, sautÈ the shrimp in the garlic liquid spice and grapeseed oil. Add the broccoli florets and tomatoes, simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the water, soup base, basil and pepper. Stir and allow to simmer gently for another few minutes.

Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta, mix well. Sprinkle with additional basil leaves and serve immediately with your choice of cheeses such as parmesan, romano or asiago cheese. Serves 4-6

photo © 2009 Ginny | more info (via: Wylio)

What is fruit salsa? Does it contain hot peppers? I assumed it would so I never bothered to look at any of the recipes before. I confess, I’m not a fan of hot food. It turns out fruit salsa is basically chopped up fruit that can be eaten as an appetizer, snack or condiment!! Who knew?

I’m going to surprise hubby with fruit salsa and cinnamon chips this weekend. We both enjoy fruit and he’s always looking for something to snack on so I think it will be a great treat. Here’s the recipe:

2 cups fresh strawberries hulled and chopped
1 fresh mango, peeled and chopped
3/4 cup green grapes, halved
1 cup blueberries
3/4 cup pineapple (fresh or canned)
2 tsp of fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon honey

Directions: Add all chopped fruit to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with lime juice, drizzle with honey and mix gently. Chill for a few hours to allow the flavors to develop. Serve with cinnamon chips.

Cinnamon Chips
4-6 whole wheat flour tortillas
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon honey
Watkins cinnamon

Directions: Melt butter and honey, brush on one side of the tortillas, place on a cookie sheet butter side up and sprinkle with a little cinnamon. Use a pizza cutter to cut the tortillas into wedges. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Tip: use what ever seasonal fruits and berries you have available, or your favorites, you don’t need to stick to the one’s listed above.

So are you a fan of fruit salsa? Go ahead tell me what I’ve been missing!

But I don’t eat breakfast! I’m sure you have heard the saying, “Breakfast is the Most Important Meal of the Day” and it’s certainly true especially when it comes to children. Countless studies have shown that children who eat a balanced breakfast are more alert in school, perform better and in many cases are less prone to bad behavior than children who don’t eat breakfast. These are pretty good reasons why your kids should eat breakfast and you’ll enjoy the same benefits too.

Here are some quick and easy breakfast ideas for you and your kids:

Eggs are classic breakfast food because they versatile and nutritious, plus most kids like them. Start the day with simple scrambled eggs, you can add a little chopped ham, cheese, chopped tomatoes or mushrooms. Soft or hard boiled eggs with slices of whole grain toast will down well too.

This is my favorite! While store bought muffins aren’t always the most nutritious, if you bake your own you can add fruit or grated vegetable and a little honey for a naturally sweet breakfast muffin. You can also replace half of the amount of white flour for healthier whole wheat flour. And don’t just stick to sweet muffins, try a savory muffin such as cheese and ham. Bake them the night before for a quick and healthy breakfast.

Fresh fruit with yogurt and cheerio dip make a healthy fun breakfast for kids. Using a rolling pin crush a handful of two of whole grain Cheerios in a plastic bag and transfer to a bowl. Fill another bowl with yogurt and let your kids dip the fruit pieces in yogurt then in the cheerio mixture. Whole grain Cheerios have a lower sugar content then many of the cereals on the supermarket shelves.

Prepare a basic pancake batter the night before, cover and refrigerate. In the morning all you need to do is heat the grill and your whole family can enjoy delicious homemade pancakes. Serve with a little maple syrup or jam and some fresh fruit on the side.

Make up some extra waffles on the weekend, freeze them for quick week day breakfasts. Reheat in the toaster!

Split a couple of bagels in half, top with a little pizza sauce, grated cheese and some chopped ham for. Place under the grill for a few minutes and you have a nutritious breakfast pizza. You can also use English muffins or pita bread.

Whole wheat wraps are a great alternative to toast and cereal. You can make a scrambled egg breakfast wrap with a little bit of ham or cheese added to it or you can add a little cream cheese and turkey or even make a breakfast pizza burrito. Spread a whole wheat wrap with peanut butter, roll around a banana, slice or eat as is.

Remember breakfast doesn’t have to always consist of the traditional toast, cereal and eggs, you can experiment a little to keep things interesting. And don’t put too much pressure on yourself to always make the perfect family breakfast. If your kids really aren’t hungry at breakfast time a simple banana and a glass of milk will give them an instant boost.

The most important thing is that your child starts the day with one or two nutritious foods.

Sift together cocoa and 1 and 3/4 cups icing sugar. Cream butter and extract, gradually add cocoa mixture blending well.

Scoop small bits of truffle filling with a teaspoon (one to two bite sized) and roll in coconut or chopped nuts to form a ball. Arrange truffles in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper and place in the fridge until firm. Transfer the chocolates into a covered food storage container and store in refrigerator until serving time. Or you might want to hide them in the freezer other wise they may magically disappear!

You’ll find the cocoa and extracts to make these delightfully simple chocolate truffles in the US Catalog or the Canadian Catalogue.

These truffles would make lovely little Easter eggs, what other holiday would you make them for?

I have to admit turkey is one of our favorite homemade soups, maybe because I only make it a couple of times a year. We really should roast a turkey more often so I can make soup!

Ingredients for a simple, basic soup:
1 turkey carcass
1 large onion, chopped
3 large carrots, diced
3 celery ribs, diced
1 – 3 tablespoons Watkins chicken soup base
3/4 teaspoon Watkins pepper
water

Instructions: In a large kettle or stock pot place leftover turkey carcass and cover with water. On high heat bring water to a rapid boil. Lower heat, cover and allow to simmer for an hour or so. I like to let it simmer for a couple of hours.

Remove pot from the heat and allow stock and bones to cool enough to handle. Strain broth into large pot or bowl. Reserve strained broth. Be sure to save any pieces of turkey meat before emptying strainer. Remove any turkey meat that remains on the carcass, discard bones. Cut meat into bite size pieces.

Return reserved broth back to a kettle or pot. Add unions, carrots and celery stirring to mix all ingredients together well. Bring to a rapid boil Add black pepper, chicken soup base to taste and optional ingredients such as corn, barley and lentils if desired (see below). Bring back to a rapid boil, lower heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Taste and add more soup base if needed. Add turkey meat bring to a boil and turn off heat. If adding frozen peas (see below) add them now.

When I make meat and broth based soup I generally add everything except the kitchen sink, so I end up with a thick soup that’s almost a stew, filled with lots of vegetable and grains. If you fancy this type of soup or want to add more nutrition here are some more ingredients to add.

Choose one or more of the following additional Ingredients for a heartier soup:

1/2 cup barley
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup red lentils
1/2 cup small pasta or noodles
2 parsnips, diced
1 cup kernel corn, frozen or canned
1 cup green beans, frozen or canned
1 bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup frozen peas (I like to add these at the very end)
1 -2 cups roasted turkey meat, diced
leftover turkey gravy

I generally add only one grain, rice or barley or the pasta, not all of them.

Ingredients:
1 tsp. Watkins Cumin
1 can refried beans
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 T. Watkins Salsa & Sour Cream Snack & Dip Seasoning
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup black olives
1 cup chopped, seeded tomatoes
1 can diced green chilies, drained
hot pepper sauce, to taste

Directions: Mash beans and combine with cumin, spread, over bottom of a 9inch pie plate or other serving plate. In a small bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise and seasoning. Spread mixture over mashed beans. Sprinkle with cheese, green onions, olives, tomato, and green chilies. Sprinkle to taste with hot pepper sauce, if desired. Chill until serving time.

Baked Tortilla Chips

Ingredients:
1 package (6 oz/170g) corn tortillas
Watkins Cooking Spray
Watkins Chili Powder, to taste

Directions: Cut tortillas into 8 wedges each. Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with seasoning. Bake at 450ºF/235ºC for 6 minutes or until crisp but not brown.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon Watkins baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon Watkins ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon Watkins purest ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups milk (2% or skim)

1 cup pumpkin puree, fresh or canned

2 beaten eggs

2 tablespoons Watkins Original Grapeseed oil

Directions: Measure all dry ingredients and place in a large bowl. Mix together until well blended.

Directions: Measure all dry ingredients and place in a large bowl. Mix together until well blended.

In another mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients. Mix wet ingredients together with a wire whisk until fully combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir only until combined. It’s important that you don’t over-mix the batter, yes it should be lumpy!

Preheat a non-stick skillet or cast iron griddle on medium heat. If you aren’t using a non-stick pan, spray with cooking spray or add a teaspoon or two of oil to the pan, so pancakes don’t stick.

Using a ladle, pour about ½ cup of batter to the skillet per pancake. Allow to cook until bubbles form on top and edges look dry, then flip and cook on other side. Cook for a couple minutes more until browned.

Serve with maple syrup or your favorite pancake toppings. Makes about 12 pancakes.

Basic Pancake Recipe

If you prefer regular pancakes here’s the recipe!

2 cups flour

2 cups milk

2 eggs (beaten)

2 tablespoons Watkins original grapeseed or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Watkins Vanilla

Directions: In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until blended. Add milk, beaten eggs, oil and vanilla, stir until just combined. Preheat lightly greased griddle or frying pan. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into pan per pancake. Cook until pancakes begin to bubble. Flip once and cook for 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve with maple syrup, jam or fruit. Makes approximately 8 pancakes

It’s not hard to make pancakes from scratch! This recipe has been added Real Food Wednesday list on Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s blog.
How do you like your pancakes?

Ingredients:
4 tbsp butter
4 pears, halved and cored
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (or other nuts)
1 teaspoon Watkins caramel extract
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt

Directions: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F with oven rack in center position..

Place the butter on a baking pan and put into the heated oven. Once butter has melted, add caramel extract and sprinkle with brown sugar. Add the pear halves with the cut side down on top of the butter/sugar (caramel) mixture and bake for about 30 minutes.

Once the pear halves are tender, turn them over and baste with the caramel sauce. Bake for a further 10 minutes until nice and golden.

Serve immediately, place the pear halves in bowls and top with caramel sauce, sour cream and garnish with the pecans.

This can be made ahead, simply reheat the pears and caramel sauce in the microwave before serving.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 package almond paste (7- or 8-ounce size)
Almond Glaze (recipe follows)
Sliced almonds, toasted, if desired (see Notes)

Heat oven to 375o. Beat flour, butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Cut almond paste into 1/2-inch slices; cut each slice into fourths.

Shape 1-inch ball of dough around each piece of almond paste. Gently
roll to form ball. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set and bottom is golden brown.

Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Dip tops of cookies into Almond Glaze. Garnish with sliced almonds.

Almond Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon Watkins almond extract
4 – 5 teaspoons milk

Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable.

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