sometimes it reminds me of cheesecake

My favorite snack is a scoop of plain Greek yogurt with some marionberry freezer jam on top. The other day it really reminded me of cheesecake. Of course, Greek yogurt is not cheesecake! But the combination of flavors and textures took me in that direction.

Rather than mixing it all up the way the pre-mixed fruit yogurts are made, I just put the jam on top of the yogurt, and approached it like cheesecake. Maybe I should've tried it with a graham cracker crust, but most of the time I've just sprinkled some walnuts on top. The other day I'd run out of walnuts, so I used pine nuts instead. I was surprised by how good it was.

Am I just pretending to believe something that will never be true: the zany idea that Greek yogurt is a perfectly satisfying substitute for cheesecake? For me, this delicious, healthy snack pushes all the same buttons. That must be why Greek yogurt ends up in my shopping basket, and I couldn't tell you the last time I had cheesecake.

light green salad with walnuts and blue cheese dressing

The Oceanaire Seafood Room has a salad with Belgian Endive, Granny Smith Apple, shaved celery and toasted walnuts. I had the salad in Seattle, and thought I'd remembered a blue cheese dressing, but when I checked their menu, it was actually a creamy lemon dressing. Still, I wanted the salad with blue cheese- I remembered it that way, even if it never existed- so I made it just that way.

Ingredients


1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 t garlic powder
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

2 stalks celery, shaved with a vegetable peeler
1/2 Granny Smith Apple, sliced thin
1 belgian endive, leaves separated
1/4 c toasted walnuts

Mix the first seven ingredients together in a small bowl to make the dressing. Prepare the endive and shave the celery before slicing the apples. Toss endive, celery and apples in the dressing, making sure the apples are well coated to avoid browning. Plate the salad, top with walnuts fresh ground black pepper, and serve immediately. Serves 2.

recreating Il Fornaio's bruschetta

When I was in San Jose a couple weeks ago, I stayed at the Sainte Claire Hotel, and there is a wonderful restaurant called Il Fornaio Cucina Italiana in the ground floor of the hotel. Mom and I went there for some appetizers and a glass of wine one evening, and the bruschetta was delightful. I couldn't tell you the exact details, but there was lovely grilled bread, roasted vegetables, goat cheese, and a drizzle of syrupy balsamic vinegar.

The other night I had some leftover rustic bread, so I decided to try my hand at bruschetta. I grilled the bread on the panini press and topped it with roasted red pepper, grape tomatoes, eggplant, sauteed mushrooms, and arugula, lightly spreading some roasted garlic on several pieces of bread before topping. I added goat cheese to some, but not all, and drizzled some reduced balsamic vinegar over the top. It was delicious, and brought back pleasant memories of dining at Il Fornaio, and the weekend spent with family and friends in San Jose.  

Leftover Remix: Best Chicken Salad

I'm back after a brief hiatus. My mom was visiting for the last three weeks, and I haven't had as much time to blog, but I've still been cooking up a storm. This week I'm dealing with leftovers, and the first recipe is a remix using leftover chicken kebobs, tzatziki sauce, and rustic "Como" bread.

Before Mom arrived, I got myself a panini grill. Turned out to be a good investment- Mom and I enjoyed paninis every day we were home for lunch. Toward the end of the visit, we had chicken kebobs for dinner, and there was enough leftover to make a chicken salad with the leftover tzatziki sauce from the same meal. The recipe can be found by following this link.

All I did was mix the chicken and tzatziki sauce together, make a sandwich, and grill it on the panini press. It was really delicious- tasted very much like a chicken souvlaki. The idea of remixing or "morphing" leftovers came to me from chef Kathleen Daelemans, who had a great show on the Food Network more than ten years ago. It stuck with me, and every time I have leftovers that can be remixed into something else, I try to do it. Do you morph your leftovers into different meals? If so, please share your ideas in toe comments section below.