Make your own iced mocha... plus a yummy snack!

I try not to splurge on the $4, 800-calorie drinks at the coffee shop. I really do. Sometimes, however, they are just too hard to resist. The iced mocha, which happens to be one of the most expensive and calorie-laden beverages on the typical coffee house menu, is my personal favorite. When I realized just how unhealthy these are, I decided to learn to make my own, lighter version. There are recipes all over the internet for iced coffee drinks, but most of them instruct you to brew the coffee and refrigerate it overnight. Sounds great.. unless you want that mocha NOW! I brew one cup of coffee with enough coffee for two cups, so the coffee is double-strength, then add ice to cool it off. Over the years, I have experimented with every different add-in you can imagine, but have finally decided this is the best recipe.

Iced mocha
1 cup very strong coffee
1 tablespoon half and half
2 tablespoons Hershey's chocolate syrup (the stuff you put on ice cream)
1 packet Splenda (or 2 t sugar)
1 cup ice
Reddi-Whip (optional)

Place coffee in a 16-oz cup (this would be a regular-sized drinking glass). Add half and half, chocolate syrup, and Splenda, and stir until combined. Fill cup the rest of the way with ice. Top with Reddi-Whip

To make it a frappe, put all ingredients except Reddi-Whip in a blender and blend until smooth.

The mocha pictured above has about 150 calories, and did not cost me $4


With my mocha, I had the most delicious, filling, and healthy snack that I heard about on another blog I like, www.carrotsncake.com. I added 1 teaspoon cinnamon to a cup of vanilla yogurt, then used this as a dip for apple slices. Tastes like apple pie!

Gleek Party Platter

I am a huge fan of the T.V. show Glee. I love everything about it! I have a couple of friends who are big fans as well, so when we can, we get together and watch the show. Last week's episode featured music from Madonna, which I knew would be amazing, and I felt this warranted a special snack: the Gleek Party Platter!

The platter consisted of white bean rosemary dip, red bell pepper strips, carrot coins, zucchini slices, and pita chips. This is one of my favorite foods to serve at parties, because if there are leftovers, then I've got a healthy snack for later!

White bean dip
1 15 oz can white cannellini beans
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil

Place all ingredients in food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Instead of placing the dip in the center and piling the veggies around it (old-fashioned, in my opinion), I arranged it this way:



This does a nice job of displaying the veggies and looks so pretty.

There weren't many leftovers, and the Madonna episode of Glee was definitely fantastic!

My great grandmother's peanut butter rolls

I just can't stay out of the kitchen this weekend! After feasting on dinner party leftovers all day, I suddenly felt the need to try this recipe of my great grandmother's. My great grandmother, I'm told, was everything a grandmother should be: she raised five kids on an Iowa farm, wore her gray hair in a bun, kept her home so clean you could eat off the floors, and could cook like the dickens. When my grandma told me about her incredibly delicious-sounding recipe for peanut butter rolls, I became convinced that my great grandmother must have been a genius!

Great Grandma Hoover's recipe was just her cinnamon roll recipe, but instead of using butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar for the filling, she used butter and peanut butter.

My recipe is an updated version, using whole wheat flour and brown sugar- this combination produces a rich flavor when baked.

Peanut butter rolls
Ingredients

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, room temperature
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the sugar, salt, egg and the white flour; stir well to combine. Stir in the wheat flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
Lightly grease an 8x8 inch square baking pan or two pie dishes. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Smear the dough with butter, then peanut butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Roll up the dough along the long edge until it forms a roll. Slice the roll into 16 equal size pieces and place them in the pan with the cut side up.
Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake rolls until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Extra cool: I baked these in my great grandma's Pyrex pie dish.

Dinner Party Leftovers= Brunch!

Whenever I take the time and energy to cook, I try to make sure I'll have leftovers so I can get a free, no-cook meal out of my effort. I had a few friends over for dinner last night, and although everyone ate heartily, I had plenty of leftovers to play with today. The menu included:
Mixed greens with strawberries, feta, walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette
Rosemary focaccia
Linguine with parsley walnut pesto
Bittersweet chocolate tart

On Sundays, I like to make something special for brunch, so I always end up experimenting and cooking something new and delicious. This week's creation was simple but elegant: egg and chèvre on rosemary focaccia!
I sliced off a hunk of the focaccia and then cut it in half, so I had two slices, like a bun, and toasted it in the toaster. Then I scrambled an egg with plenty of salt and pepper in a frying pan. I spread a couple of tablespoons of chèvre on one slice of the bread, then topped with the egg and the other slice of bread. Sooooo good.



I always try to have some fruit with my breakfast, but on days I'm not feeling it, I make a smoothie. For this morning's strawberry smoothie, I used 7 cleaned, stemmed strawberries, 1 banana, 1/3 cup orange juice, 1/4 cup lemonade, and 1/3 cup ice. Blend on "frappe" in the blender for about 15 seconds.

Jumping on the bandwagon

I love to cook beautiful, simple, healthy food. Much of my cooking inspiration in recent months has come from food blogs. There are so many lovely blogs out there, full of recipes and pictures that could make any mouth water. Never enjoying the spotlight, I have long resisted starting my own blog. Why would anyone want to see a picture of what I'm eating for dinner? It's just this seared salmon and Greek salad I make all the time... nothing special! I live in Iowa... I can't possibly be eating anything as chic as those food bloggers in NYC/San Francisco/Boston/Minneapolis! However, the constant requests for recipes (and dinner invites) from friends, the joy I get from cooking delicious food produced right here in the heartland, and the desire to journal my own cooking (and eating!) experiences have led me to create this blog. I'm excited to finally start writing down some of my recipes and sharing them with others. I hope you enjoy!