Wednesday Recipes

Here are today's six recipes to help you through the day, including Frozen Creamsicle™ Crunch Cake and Strawberry-Peach Cooler. Enjoy!

ROASTED CHICKEN WITH POTATOES, ARUGULA AND GARLIC YOGURT

This comes from Melissa Clark in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Melissa wrote, “Your typical sheet-pan chicken recipe roasts everything together on a pan at once. This version pairs potatoes with the poultry, and tops everything off with fresh herbs and arugula, making it a true one-pan meal, salad included. A savory yogurt sauce adds a creamy touch, but it’s optional if you’re not a yogurt sauce fan. Feel free to double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd, though make sure to use two sheet pans so that everything is spread out in one layer, which is critical for browning.” Yield: 4 servings; Time: 1 hour, plus marinating

This was featured in “Springtime Sheet-Pan Chicken” and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks

1 1/4 pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes, halved and cut into 1/2-inch slices

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, more as needed

2 tablespoons harissa (or use another thick hot sauce, such as sriracha)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed

2 leeks, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (from 1/2 lemon)

1/3 cup plain yogurt (do not use Greek yogurt)

1 small garlic clove

2 ounces baby arugula

Chopped fresh dill, as needed

Lemon juice, as needed

Preparation

Combine chicken and potatoes in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together harissa, cumin and 3 tablespoons oil. Pour over chicken and potatoes and toss to combine. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine leeks, lemon zest, a pinch of salt and the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons oil.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange chicken and potatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Roast 15 minutes. Toss potatoes lightly. Scatter leeks over pan. Roast until chicken and potatoes are cooked through and everything is golden and slightly crisped, 25 to 30 minutes longer.

While chicken cooks, place yogurt in a small bowl. Grate garlic over yogurt and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, spoon yogurt over chicken and vegetables in the pan. Scatter arugula and dill over mixture. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice and serve.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This comes from Kim Severson, also n The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Kim wrote, “This version of the childhood favorite came from Christopher Kimball, formerly the publisher and editor of Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country magazines. Mr. Kimball calls for extra crunchy peanut butter here, plus a full cup of roasted salted peanuts, which results in a super crunchy and delightfully salty-sweet treat.” Yield: 4 dozen cookies; Time: 35 minutes.

This was featured in “Who’s Sticking With Us?”, and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup roasted salted peanuts

1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup extra-crunchy peanut butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Adjust oven rack to low center position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Place peanuts in a food processor and pulse until the texture of bread crumbs. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping sides as necessary. Then beat in crunchy peanut butter until fully incorporated, followed by eggs and vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Fold in ground peanuts just until incorporated.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop dough onto sheet in spoonfuls a little bigger than a golf ball, about two inches apart. Dip a fork in cold water and then press the back into dough, repeating to make a crisscross.

Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 11 to 12 minutes. They will not look completely baked. Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 3 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Tip

Cookies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 7 days.

STRAWBERRY-PEACH COOLER

Yield: 2 servings

Serving size: 1 cup

Source: The Diabetes Snack, Munch, Nibble, Nosh Book

Find this recipe at: http://diabeticgourmet.com/recipes/html/737.shtml

Ingredients

1 cup dry-pack unsweetened frozen strawberries

2/3 cup dry-pack unsweetened frozen peaches

3/4 cup orange juice

Directions

In a 2-cup measure or similar microwave-safe bowl, combine the strawberries and peaches.

Cover with wax paper, and microwave on high power 45 seconds to 1 minute to thaw the fruit slightly. The fruit should be icy but not hard.

Working with a small knife in the measuring cup, cut each peach slice in half.

Transfer the peaches and strawberries to a blender container.

Add the orange juice. Blend on low power to combine. Then increase power to high and continue to blend until the peaches are completely pureed, at least 1-1/2 minutes.

Nutritional Information Per Serving: Calories: 105; Protein: 2 g; Sodium: 2 mg; Cholesterol: 0 mg; Dietary Fiber: 3 g; Sugars: 23 g; Carbohydrates: 26 g; Exchanges: 2 Fruit

SWEET POTATO SOUFFLE

My mom’s recipe. Really good with ham. There were never any left-overs. It can be found in my e-cookbook, Off the Wall Cooking.

4-5 sweet potatoes

1 egg

1 small can pineapple

1 C nuts

2 T orange juice concentrate

1/2 tsp. salt

Cinnamon

dash pepper

1/2 C brown sugar

9 large marshmallows

Peel & dice sweet potatoes, place in pan of water, and cook until tender. Mash & add other ingredients except marshmallows. Put in square pan, cut in 9 squares & place 1 marshmallow in each square. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

BEEF STEW

Another invention of mine; the recipes I had for stew seemed too bland. This can also be found in Off the Wall Cooking.

2-3 lbs. stewing beef

1 clove garlic, minced

3 T oil

4 carrots, cut up

2 C water

1 large potato, peeled & cut up

1 onion, chopped

6 oz tomato paste

8 oz tomato sauce

4 T vinegar

1 C flour

3 T honey

1 T soy sauce

salt & pepper

Cut beef into bite-sized pieces. Trim fat & dredge in flour & brown in oil. Add everything except carrots & potato. Cook 15 minutes. Add carrots & cook 15 more minutes. Add potato & cook 30 minutes. Add water as needed. Serve over noodles.

FROZEN CREAMSICLE CRUNCH CAKE

This was posted by Cheeky Kitchen in the Tablespoon e-newsletter. The recipe begins, “Yoplait® Light Orange Crème yogurt is whipped into a sweet and creamy filling, spread between two crunchy layers of Chex™ granola, and made into a quick and delicious frozen cake!” Prep Time: 15 minutes; Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes; makes 12 servings.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1 (11 oz.) packet Gluten Free Chex™ Granola Mix Honey Nut

12 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar or simple syrup

1 (8 oz.) container frozen whipped topping

2 (6 oz.) containers Yoplait® Light orange crème yogurt

1 (15 oz.) can mandarin oranges, drained

Directions

Pour the Chex™ granola mix into a food processor and process until you achieve a fine crumb. Transfer to a large bowl and drizzle melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with flour. Use a fork to combine mixture into coarse crumbs. Spread half of the mixture into an 8x8-inch dish covered with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, beat together cream cheese, simple syrup, whipped topping and yogurt until light and fluffy. Fold in mandarin oranges. Spread mixture over the crust. Top with remaining crumb.

Cover and freeze for 3 hours or more and enjoy!