Fruity Pudding Pie

Over the weekend, I was invited to a friend's house for pie. That may not seem strange to some people, but for me, at 25 years old, visting a friend from my elementary school days, this was a moment. A moment to pause and think "wow, did I ever think I would be having pie at my friends' house that she made herself when not that long ago we ran down the halls pretending to be Robin Hood and Little John?" A moment for pie.

She made a tangy lemon pudding pie with graham cracker crust that she topped with berries. A few days later and I still wanted another slice, so I knew I had to make a pudding pie myself. That and I'm getting my four wisdom teeth out tomorrow so I need a dessert fitting for geriatrics or for those experiencing oral surgery. The best case scenario of getting my wisdom teeth pulled - it's an excuse to eat ice cream and suck down milkshakes. The worse case scenario - I look like a puffer fish or that squirrel from the movie Ice Age and I am in horrendous unrelenting pain. They already told me they put cotton balls in your mouth and since cotton in the mouth is already my idea of water torture, I am preparing to pamper myself with pre and post dessert.

I'm hoping this fruit-crusted strawberry-kiwi banana cream pudding pie that I ripped directly from the weightwatchers website will help me heal faster. If I were to serve this pudding pie for company and I wasn't worried about masticating, I would use the graham cracker crust. I think what is so great about fruit and pudding pies is that you can experiment with many flavors of pudding and practically any fresh fruit that's in season. It's also simple, cheap, and requires no oven in the summer. Be prepared to eat this recipe with a spoon, but it does make an eye-catching presentation.

Here is a copy of the Weight Wathchers recipe called Fruit-Crusted Strawberry Kiwi Banana Cream Pie:
(makes 6 serving and if you do weight watchers, it's 2 points)

Ingredients:
• 1 oz fat-free sugar-free instant banana pudding and pie filling mix
• 2 cup fat-free evaporated milk
• 1 cups strawberries, thinly sliced
• 2 medium kiwifruit, peeled and sliced

Directions:
• Prepare pudding according to package directions but use fat-free evaporated milk instead of regular skim milk. (The evaporated milk allows the pudding to thicken better than fat-free milk)
• Cover bottom of a 9-inch glass pie plate with a layer of sliced strawberries.
• Pour pudding on top of strawberries. Smooth pudding surface with a wooden spoon and garnish with remaining strawberries and with kiwi slices. Refrigerate pie for at least 2 hours. Slice into 6 pieces and serve. Serve immediately after cutting.

TrueBlue: Not Your Average Juice

(This article originally appeared on fitfare.net)

It’s been a slow start to spring and still weeks before much of the nation can hope to pick and enjoy summer ripened berries. If you find yourself craving the refreshingly sweet and tart flavor of fresh blueberries, I suggest that you skip the frozen section and head over to the juice aisle, where you can likely find a bottle of TrueBlueberry cocktail.

A single 16oz bottle of TrueBlue Blueberry juice contains as much juice as ½ cup of blueberries and a 64 oz bottle contains the juice of about 1 lb of blueberries. The juice is bursting with flavor and powerful antioxidants. These antioxidants help neutralize the “free radicals,” otherwise known as the harmful by-products in our food and water supply, that lead to cancer and other age-related diseases. In fact, TrueBlue boasts that the blueberry and its juice have more antioxidants per serving than cranberry juice or any other fruit or fruit juice. Blueberries have also proven to lower cholesterol because they contain pterostilbene, an antioxidant that according to the US Department of Agriculture, reduces “bad” LDL cholesterol better than most prescription drugs. Like other fruits high in antioxidants such as cranberries, blueberries also help to prevent urinary tract infections, improve memory, coordination and balance, improve eyesight, and slow the physical and mental aging process due to its anti-inflammatory properties.

Produced from both wild and cultivated berries, TrueBlue blueberry juice is naturally sweetened with cane sugar, as opposed to many other fruit cocktails drinks sweetened with high fructose corn syrup or glucose-fructose. In fact, the nutritional information on the bottle lists 8 ingredients in total: water, blueberry juice from concentrate, grape juice from concentrate, cane sugar, citric acid, natural flavor, fruit and vegetable juice (color), and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C). As a result of the berry’s natural sweetness, the juice has 25% fewer calories than popular cranberry juice, or 110 calories per 8oz serving.

TrueBlue comes in variety of intriguing powerful antioxidant combinations, proving that it’s not your average juice beverage. It also comes in Blueberry Blackberry, Blueberry Cranberry, Blueberry Iced Green Tea, Blueberry Pomegranate, and Blueberry Raspberry. There is also light version of the beverage, LiteBlue, available in Blueberry and Blueberry Raspberry. It is sweetened with a combination of cane sugar and Splenda, and contains 50% less calories than the original cocktail, at 50 calories for a 250ml serving.

TrueBlue blueberry juice is more than just a great tasting, healthy drink; it is, as I found, also a flavorful cooking beverage and mixer. While I can easily imagine this drink being served unadorned as a non-alcoholic alternative at a party, I have to say it makes an excellent cocktail mixer as I wrote about previously on my new blog, Nimble Nosh (shameless plug #1). I poured some blueberry juice into some raspberry flavored vodka over ice and a squeeze of lime juice. The light and sweet flavor of the blueberries made this drink a far improved version of the standard Cap Codder (cranberry juice and vodka). My boyfriend played bartender as well, mixing the juice with some mango flavored rum for a fruity blend where you could hardly taste the alcohol. Elated with his first success, he tried again with a blueberry margarita - a perfect 10. His recipe calls for a shot of tequila, a shot of triple sec, 8 oz of TrueBlue blueberry juice and a squeeze of fresh lime, blended and served over ice. Perfect for the summertime heat.

I was also intrigued by the recipes posted on the TrueBlue site and decided to make their Savory Blueberry Vinaigrette over a bed of mixed salad greens, poached chicken breast, sliced strawberries, crumbled goat cheese and toasted walnuts. The savory blueberry vinaigrette was just that - savory. Perhaps not as much tangy blueberry flavor as I would have liked, but it was the perfect compliment to the light spring salad, and of course, a slightly sweet and spicy Cabernet to round off our powerful antioxidant meal. I’ve posted the recipe for the TrueBlue dressing below and my salad, also posted on Nimble Nosh (shameless plug #2). It is my recommendation that mixed blueberry cocktails should follow shortly thereafter.

(recipe below in previous post)

Fiber-packed berry morning scuffins

I moved to VT not too long ago from Boston and one of the things I miss most is the Trader Joes. I was so spoiled. I could have premium dried mushrooms, artichoke and portabella mushroom stuffed raviolis, organic polenta, dark chocolate brownies, even in-season fiddleheads if I wanted. There was so much variety and such good quality for the price. I love the cranberry-apple muffins, or the pomegranate muffins which are packed with wheat germ which means they are high in fiber, low in fat, and sugar. Two of those muffins with some cottage cheese and jam and I would be well satiated and have plenty of energy to start my day. I miss those muffins and tried to recreate them here.

Mind you, I'm not sure I would serve these to company as berry muffins, because they are more like savory biscuits or scones, and so I have instead decided to call them scuffins. These are the type of baked good that I can feel good about having everyday and are much better for me than store bought muffins or scones. The next time I make these scuffins, I might add some orange or lemon zest and perhaps reduce the recipe to just a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, because I like the grainy consistency of the Trader Joes muffins. (If you like your muffins moist, however, I would stick to this recipe as is). As an added bonus wheat germ contains many essential vitamins and minerals. It is not only very high in fiber, but also high in iron, magnesium, selenium, thiamin, vitamin B6, vitamin E, and zinc. It's a great and tasty way to start to a full day. You can also freeze individually wrapped muffins and pop them in the microwave. LIke most baked goods, I suspect they will keep for about 3 months.

Fiber-packed berry morning scuffins (makes 12)
2 cups wheat germ
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup blueberry juice (cranberry, apple, white grape juice would be find here - this is your natural sweetener)
3/4 berries (I used frozen mixed berries, but fresh or frozen can be used)
2 cups water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Stir ingredients in a bowl and distribute evenly in 12 muffin cups. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

I recommend serving with butter, jam and/or honey to sweeten to your discretion as you would a scone or biscuit.

If you are interested in the nutritionals, I've posted them here from the recipe analysis tool at calorie-count.com. Please don't hold me to it, as I'm not sure how reliable this website is, but it seems to be a fairly good estimate.

Nutritionals per serving (12): 117 calories, 2.2 g fat, 1mg sodium, 19.1 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g dietary fiber, 2.6g sugar, 6.6g protein

Poached Chicken with Strawberries, Goat Cheese and Savory Blueberry Vinagrette

Recently, I've been reviewing food products for wellfed.net. I first had some chocolate covered sunflower seeds and almonds from a company called Translucent Chocolates. Tasty but it didn't really challenge my culinary creativity. This week I got a batch of TrueBlue Blueberry Juice.

The first thing I did with it was make a mixer of course. What else do you do with blueberry juice? It was great with raspberry vodka and a splash of lime juice over ice. My boyfriend, Will, also tried it with some mango rum, and he seemed quite content with that mixture as well, 9though this was admittedly after a glass of wine with dinner and his own raspberry vodka blueberry juice cocktail). Our questionable drinking habits aside, this food blog is about maintaining a healthy balance, and so perhaps to balance out last night's indulgences, perhaps to do a full, proper,and sober product review, or perhaps not to let my gym time go completely in vain, I decided to try the Savory Blueberry Vinagrette recipe from the TrueBlueberry juice website.

They have many recipes posted and essentially you can substitute blueberry juice for anywhere that you would use cranberry juice or even pomegranate juice. It boasts more antioxidants per serving than cranberry juice and also claims to have 25% less calories than the leading cranberry juices. This is not even considering the TrueBlue Lite Blueberry Juice, which I would love to try. I'll post more on the health benefits of blueberry juice at a later date, but for the time being I'll let you know that the savory blueberry vinagrette was just that - savory. Perhaps not as much tangy blueberry flavor as I would have liked, but it was the perfect compliment to our poached chicken strawberry and goat cheese salad, and of course, a slightly sweet and spicy Cabernet.



Poached Chicken Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad with Savory Blueberry Vinagrette

Salad:
Mixed Salad Greens
chicken breast, poached and shredded *
Sliced strawberries
Goat Cheese crumbles,
Walnuts, chopped and toasted *


Savory Blueberry Vinagrette from TrueBlue Blueberry Juice

1/2 cup TrueBlue Blueberry Cocktail 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 tsp dijon mustard 1/2 tsp dried basil (I didn't have this so I added some dried oregano and parsley to taste) ground pepper to taste Whisk ingredients together and let sit for a few minutes to let flavors blend. Shake well before serving. Makes 1 3/4 cups.

* It's very easy to poach chicken breasts and it is a healthy way to cook chicken and retain its juices. Place the chicken breasts in a skillet or saucepan and add enough water to cover; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool. Shred into bite-size strips with two forks.

* Toasting walnuts brings out their strong flavor and you can use less them of them as a result. You'll find a little goes a long way. I highly recommend not skipping this step. To toast walnuts, place them in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir frequently and remove from heat once the nuts turn a slight brown hue, about 3-4 minutes, and you can begin to smell their aroma. To crush, place in a small plastic bag to avoid a mess and pound with a flat object.

First Bite

The purpose of this blog is to inspire myself and others towards a healthy and tasty lifestyle and to have fun while doing it. Nimble Nosh is a food blog. I'm a believer that we eat to live, but it can't be denied that, well sometimes, we live to eat as well. I will include lots of recipes that have a healthy focus from my experiments in the kitchen, but will also strive to maintain that a wholesome approach is about balance, so no food should really be off limits. I hope to feature articles and musings on nutrition, cooking tips, new product finds, book reviews, and anything relevant in health and wellness news. What are some of the ways to indulge and still eat well? What does a moderate athlete's diet look like? How do you achieve a balance between being full and being stuffed? How do you eat healthy when you have 15 minutes to spare? These are some of the questions that I continually find myself asking again and again, and invariably find a myriad of answers. Most importantly, I'm hoping to get ideas from the wide wide world out there on healthy eating and living if there is anyone reading... ;)

For right now though, a little about myself. I'm 25 years old and recently moved to Vermont. I work in publishing, but have an eye to towards food writing, at least as a hobby of mine. Of course, I also have an interest in fitness and nutrition. You can check out some of my articles on wellfed.net, specifically under the fitfare.net and sugarsavvy.net links. My byline is sburnett.