seltzer

My friend Ashleigh recently asked me about our soda maker.  We love it!  I had purchased it as a gift for Steve a couple of years ago and it has been a huge hit.  The bottles are reusable, lasting up to 3 years, and are BPA-free with no pthalates or polycarbonates.  The carbonators last for quite a while and bring the cost of a liter of seltzer in at about 18 cents each.  No batteries, no plug, simply the machine, a bottle, a carbonator and water.  Definitely a good drink choice and an environmentally conscious one.  I do not make any money from this company, I just like their product and you can get one too at sodaclub.com.

My favorite summer drink is to take a splash of  homemade fruit juice syrup with seltzer over ice.  It's also great with homemade lemonade as a spritzer or even some of that fabulous elderflower syrup that they sell at Ikea.  My friend Lisa likes to float fresh raspberries and lime slices in her seltzer.  However you drink it, it's delicious and easy.

oatmeal smoothie

A recent visit with my aunt brought up the idea for this smoothie.  At the coffee shop near her apartment they were serving them.  We didn't get one but the server told us they were fabulous; oatmeal, milk and vanilla syrup.  I don't know why but the idea of this smoothie caught my imagination and I decided to try to create one when I got home.  This is what I came up with and it's very delicious.  Steve liked it too.

Oatmeal Smoothie

1/4 C. oatmeal

1/4 C. oat bran

1 T. ground flax seed

1 T. coconut oil

2 C. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

heat milk and coconut oil in a saucepan until steamy

pour over remaining ingredients

blend together

Typo alert: the above has been corrected to read 2 C. of milk.  This is for two servings.  If you want to make one serving just cut everything in half.  1/4 C. is 4 T. so a half serving would be 2 T. for the oatmeal and oat bran.

phyllo pear galette

A recent combination of extra phyllo dough and some pears that were just right turned into a marvelous dessert.  First I have a confession to make, I'm not very good at making pie crusts.  Because of that I rarely make two crust pies.  Aside from the obvious increase in calories there's the need to roll out two crusts.

As I was looking at my pears and thinking about a pear tart I realized that phyllo might be an excellent flaky "crust" and I could make a galette style tart instead.  According to the Food Dictionary at Epicurious the definition is: "Hailing from France, a galette is a round, rather flat cake made of flaky-pastry dough, yeast dough or sometimes UNLEAVENED dough. The term also applies to a variety of tarts, both savory and sweet, and there are as many variations as there are French regions. They may be topped with fruit, jam, nuts, meat, cheese, etc."  My galette turned out even better than I imagined and is something that I will definitely make again.  

Phyllo Pear Galette

8-10 sheets thawed phyllo dough

1/4 C. butter melted

3 medium pears, peeled, cored, and sliced

1/4 C. raisins

1/4 C. sucanat

1 T. lemon juice

2 t. lemon zest

1 t. cinnamon

preheat oven to 350 F

mix pears, raisins, sucanat, lemon juice, zest. and cinnamon together and set aside

working one layer at a time brush the bottom of a pie dish with butter and layer in one sheet of phyllo

brushing butter on each sheet layer them one at a time into the pie dish using damp paper towels to keep the edges moist

arrange pear mixture in the dish

fold the edges of the phyllo over the mixture

brush top edges with butter

bake 30 minutes

Enjoy!