Red red red Salad (Legal Seafood)

One of my favorite salads that I had a few years ago at Legal Seafood in Boston: the red red red salad. Radicchio, dried cranberries and cherry balsamic vinaigrette, with some pecans and goat cheese.

1 head radicchio, cut in thin stripes
2 TB dried cranberries (or black cherries)
1 TB goat cheese, crumbled (or gorgonzola)
1 TB pecans, toasted and/or spiced (or walnuts)
Black cherry balsamic vinaigrette

Prepare salad and ingredients, and serve with vinaigrette.

Black cherry balsamic vinaigrette:
very good olive oil
black cherry balsamic vinegar (available @Fiore, Bar Harbor, ME)
1 garlic clove, grated (microplaned)
1 TS honey
1 TS mustard
salt, pepper

Fill all ingredients in a jar, and shake well.

Belgian Endive with Apple, Pomegranate, Pecans and Goat cheese

Another great winter salad: endives, celery, apple, toasted pecans, pomegranate seeds and goat cheese with a Galeo dressing.

Local artisan cheese in Maine

Local cheeses in Maine, mostly goat cheese. The Appleton Creamery Goat Cheese, of course, is my favorite.

The article in the Maine Mag.

Exhibit by Kathryn Oliver at the Carver Hill Gallery in Rockport

Planing for a trip to Rockland? This is a destination, too. Opening Reception and Performance by Kathryn Oliver at the Carver Hill Gallery in Rockport on Wednesday, November 11th 2009.

Kathryn Oliver - playwrite, visual artist, sculptor and painter - will have paintings, ceramic sculpture, large puppets and mobiles on exhibit at the Carver Hill Gallery from November 11th to December 7th 2009.

For more information, check here.

Beet Stuffed Baked Apples

several apples, washed and cored
1 beet, peeled and cut into sticks
1/2 cup beef stock (or vegetable stock)
1 TB balsamic vinegar
1/2 ts whole cloves

Core apples and place in baking dish. Stuff with beet sticks. Fill the area around the apples with the mix of beef stock, balsamic vinegar and cloves. Bake at 430F for 30 min.

Serve with goat cheese and pinenuts.

Looking for cute aprons ?

A great online and in-state find for gorgeous aprons: 2 Fresh Threads, Portland, ME.

2 fresh threads
po box 3083
portland, maine 04104
p. 207.317.1536
e. info@2freshthreads.com

Vegan Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

This is not necessarily skinny, but it is vegan (no eggs, no butter, no sugar), so quite light and just a divine rich chocolate taste, and light cake texture.

Ingredients for a small spring form:
1/3 cp whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
1/3 cp cocoa powder
1/4 ts salt
1/2 cp soy milk
1/4 cp canola oil
3/4 cp pure organic maple syrup
1/2 ts apple cidre vinegar
1 ts vanilla extract

Raspberry Sauce (for a small cake):
1 cp frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 ts maple syrup
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9 inch springform pan with non stick cooking spray. Sift together flours and baking powder and baking soda. In a saucepan, heat the soymilk on low-medium heat. When it is slightly bubbling, add the cocoa powder and whisk well until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Combine the other liquid ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Add the cocoa mixture and combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 F for 25 minutes until a toothpick or butter knife comes out clean. Let cool completely and frost with your favorite frosting.

Vegan Banana Bread

Equipment:
small spring form
Ingredients
1/4 cup splenda brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups pastry flour
¾ cp whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 TB semi-sweat mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1/4 cup vanilla soy milk, mixed with
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 TB earth balance no-transfat margarine, melted
¼ cp apple sauce, optionally
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8x4 bread pan with non stick cooking spray, or lightly coat with margarine. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and dry spices. Mix together the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, margarine and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and add the bananas. Mix well. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.